Biden calls for Trump to be locked up at event, tries to clarify comment seconds later
CONCORD, N.H. – With two weeks to go until Election Day, President Biden appeared to spark a political controversy on Tuesday as he called for his predecessor to be “politically” locked up during a political event in New Hampshire’s capital city.
The president was in Concord for an official event to highlight his administration’s efforts to lower health care costs and prescription drug prices. Minutes later, speaking at a political gathering at the New Hampshire Democratic Party headquarters, Biden was reiterating his longstanding argument that GOP nominee former President Trump, if re-elected, would be a threat to the nation’s democracy.
“Our democracy is at stake,” he said. “Think about it. Think about what would happen if Donald Trump wins this election.”
Biden then said “I know this sounds bizarre. It sounds like if I said this five years ago, you’d lock me up. We got to lock him up.”
But the president appeared to instantly catch himself, adding “politically lock him up. Lock him out. That’s what we have to do.”
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During his tenure in the White House, Biden has tried to keep his distance from the Justice Department and its multiple investigations into the former president. And Biden has repeatedly insisted that his administration has not let political motivations influence its decisions regarding those investigations into Trump.
But the comments on Tuesday from Biden – even though he quickly corrected himself – come as Vice President Kamala Harris – who three months ago replaced Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket – has tried to stop supporters at her rallies from chanting “lock him up” in reference to Trump.
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“Lock her up” was a regular chant by Trump supporters during the former president’s 2016 campaign, as he criticized Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton as being corrupt.
And as he runs to win back the White House, Trump has repeatedly charged – without providing evidence – that the Justice Department investigations against him are politically motivated.
Trump’s campaign on Tuesday quickly posted video of Biden’s comments to its social media accounts.
And Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed in a statement that “Joe Biden just admitted the truth: he and Kamala’s plan all along has been to politically persecute their opponent President Trump because they can’t beat him fair and square. The Harris-Biden Admin is the real threat to democracy. We call on Kamala Harris to condemn Joe Biden’s disgraceful remark.”
There was no official White House reaction, but aides noted the context, that the president quickly corrected himself as he spoke by adding “politically lock him up.”
Fox News reached out to the Harris campaign for reaction, but had yet to receive a response at the time this story was published.
Trump, who has been indicted multiple times and made history as the first current or former president convicted in a criminal case, has regularly said during the 2024 campaign that if he returned to the White House, he would prosecute his political foes.
And both Biden and Harris have repeatedly warned voters that Trump poses a threat to democracy if he’s re-elected.
“There’s only two things we can do. Guarantee that he doesn’t. Or if he does, make sure we have the strongest Democratic majority we can get,” the president argued.
Bidn also repeated his charges that Trump-supporting Republicans have anti-democratic attitudes.
“We’re dealing with a totally different breed of cat now,” he said. “That was— the civil rights era was terrible. But we got a group now that is just literally, and I’m not one that is prone to hyperbole, but we have a a group running the MAGA Republicans who are have an anti-democratic attitude toward the way the Constitution functions,” Biden reiterated on Tuesday.
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But.Trump’s supporters have blamed rhetoric from some Democrats for the two failed assassination attempts this year on the former president’s life.
Biden also criticized Trump at the official policy event, which was held at a nearby community college.
“My predecessor, the distinguished former president,” Biden mockingly said of Trump, “he wants to replace the Affordable Care Act with… what he refers to as a concept of a plan.”
The president then charged that Trump “has no concept of anything.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders from neighboring Vermont, the progressive champion and two-time Democratic presidential nomination runner-up, spoke before Biden at the event.
The president later joked that “Bernie and I…have been doing this work for a long time. I know we both look like we’re 40, but we’re a little older. At least I am.”
Harris pressed about not disclosing Biden’s cognitive decline to the American people
Vice President Kamala Harris was pressed about whether she was forthcoming to the American people about President Biden’s mental decline in an interview with NBC News’ Hallie Jackson.
During Tuesday’s sitdown, Jackson noted how Harris was a staunch defender of Biden’s whenever she faced questions from the media about his age. She backed him as they sought reelection as the Democratic ticket before his disastrous performance at the CNN presidential debate resulted in his exit from the race.
“Can you say that you were honest with the American people about what you saw in those moments with President Biden, as you were with him again and again repeatedly in that time?”
“Of course,” Harris responded. “Joe Biden is an extremely accomplished, experienced and capable in every way that anyone would want if they’re president.”
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“You never saw anything like what happened at the debate night behind closed doors with him?” Jackson followed.
“It was a bad debate. People have bad debates,” Harris replied.
“But that’s the reason why you’re here and he’s not running for the top of the ticket,” Jackson said.
“Well, you’d have to ask him if that’s the only reason why,” Harris responded.
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“What do you think?” Jackson then asked.
“I’m running for President of the United States. Joe Biden is not,” Harris said. “And my presidency will be about bringing a new generation of leadership to America that is focused on the work that we need to do to invest in the ambitions and aspirations of the American people.”
The NBC News anchor clarified to the vice president that it’s a “judgment question.”
“That’s why I ask. Can the American people trust you in these moments, even when it’s maybe uncomfortable… to level with Americans in that way? So that’s why I ask,” Jackson said. “And it sounds like what you’re saying is you feel like you never saw anything like that from President Biden.”
“I have worked with Joe Biden, whether- hours and hours and hours over these four years, whether it be in the Situation Room or the Oval Office… I speak with not only sincerity, but with a real firsthand account of watching him do this work. I have no reluctance in saying that. No, of course I don’t.” Harris said.
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Harris was previously grilled about her knowledge of Biden’s mental decline during her sitdown with Fox News’ Bret Baier, where she offered a similar response on how she watched Biden work “from the Oval Office to the Situation Room.”
“You met with him at least once a week for three-and-a-half years. You didn’t have any concerns?” Baier pressed.
“I think the American people have a concern about Donald Trump,” Harris responded. “Which is why the people who know him best, including leaders of our national security community have all spoken out, even people who worked for him in the Oval Office, worked with him in the Situation Room and have said he is unfit and dangerous and should never be President of the United States again, including his former vice president, which is why the job was open for him to choose another running mate. So that is a fact. That is a fact.”
CNN fact-checker corrects Tim Walz on claim about Trump-era economy
CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale corrected Democrat vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s claims about the Trump-era economy and made a key observation that some numbers were taken out of context.
“Let‘s talk about manufacturing,” anchor Kate Bolduan said to Dale as she spoke Tuesday on “CNN News Central.” “Building back up manufacturing in the United States is a focus of both campaigns.”
She then played a clip of Walz from his recent appearance on ABC’s “The View” where he had claimed, “We want to make sure that you’re able to bring manufacturing, like [Democrat presidential nominee] Kamala Harris has said. We know [Republican nominee] Donald Trump lost more manufacturing jobs than any president in American history. That‘s simply factual.”
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The media network’s fact-checker warned that Walz’s claim was simply “not true.”
“Well, if you’re going to say something is simply factual, it should be factual. This is not,” he said. “It’s not true that the Trump presidency lost more manufacturing jobs than any other presidency. Under George W. Bush, there were about 4.5 million manufacturing jobs lost. Under Trump, it was about 178,000.”
He went on to add that other past presidents had far more manufacturing jobs lost during their times in office, such as Eisenhower, Ford and Reagan. “So Trump does not have the record,” Dale said.
Dale also argued that people criticizing Trump’s economy are ignoring the fact there was a historic pandemic during his presidency.
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“I think it‘s also worth pointing out for context that these Trump job losses in manufacturing overwhelmingly occurred because of the COVID pandemic,” he said. “Pre-pandemic, under Trump, there was a gain of about 414,000 manufacturing jobs. Again, he ended [at] negative 178,000, but that was largely because we had a pandemic-related crash.”
Potential discovery in the South could turn economic trend on its head in boon for US
A new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) found a large amount of lithium reserves in southwestern Arkansas that could help meet rising demand for lithium in electric vehicle car batteries.
USGS worked with the Arkansas Department of Energy and the Environment’s Office of the State Geologist to examine a geological unit known as the Smackover Formation to determine the amount of lithium in brines that are co-produced during oil and gas exploration.
The study estimated that there are between 5 million and 19 million tons of lithium reserves present in the formation. While that estimate was of the amount of lithium in place and didn’t assess how much of that is technically recoverable, if the reserves can be recovered commercially, the low-end estimate of 5 million tons would be enough to meet the world’s projected 2030 demand for lithium batteries in electric vehicles nine times over.
Lithium is a critical mineral that has seen global demand surge in recent years, a trend that’s expected to continue as the transition from fossil fuels to electric and hybrid vehicles accelerates in the years ahead given its use in rechargeable EV batteries. The mineral is also used in the production of glass and aluminum products, and it can be found in portable electronic devices, electric tools and has energy grid storage applications.
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“Our research was able to estimate total lithium present in the southwestern portion of the Smackover in Arkansas for the first time. We estimate there is enough dissolved lithium present in that region to replace U.S. imports of lithium and more,” said Katherine Knierim, a hydrologist and the study’s principal researcher.
“It is important to caution that these estimates are an in-place assessment. We have not estimated what is technically recoverable based on newer methods to extract lithium from brines,” Knierim added.
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USGS used machine learning, a type of artificial intelligence (AI), to analyze samples from the Smackover Formation that it compared against USGS databases of samples of brines and water from hydrocarbon production.
The machine learning model then used that data to predict lithium concentrations across the region and generate maps, even of areas from which lithium samples haven’t been collected.
“Lithium is a critical mineral for the energy transition, and the potential for increased U.S. production to replace imports has implications for employment, manufacturing and supply-chain resilience. This study illustrates the value of science in addressing economically important issues,” said USGS Director David Applegate.
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The U.S. currently imports more than 25% of its lithium. A USGS report noted that from 2019 to 2022, U.S. lithium imports came primarily from Argentina (51%) and Chile (43%), with notably smaller amounts imported from China (3%) and Russia (2%).
Australia’s lithium mines were the world’s most productive, followed by Chile and China, per the USGS report. The world’s largest lithium reserves were Chile with 9.3 million tons, Australia with 6.2 million tons, Argentina with 3.6 million tons and China with 3 million tons, according to the January 2024 report. For comparison, U.S. reserves were 1.1 million tons of lithium.
Measured and indicated lithium resources in the report were 14 million tons for the U.S., less than Bolivia’s 23 million tons and Argentina’s 22 million tons, though that figure exceeded Chile’s 11 million tons, Australia’s 8.7 million tons and China’s 6.8 million tons.
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The USGS report noted that around the world, lithium’s main end use is for batteries (87%), followed by ceramics and glass (4%), lubricating greases (2%), air treatment (1%), continuous casting mold flux powders (1%), medical (1%) and other uses (4%).
Nearly 55,000 registered Dems in swing state changed their party affiliation, data shows
The Democratic Party is losing its edge over the GOP in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, with Democrats changing their party affiliation at more than twice the rate of Republicans, according to state data released after voter registration ended Monday evening.
A total of 9,088,583 registered voters were tallied across the state when the sign-up period ended at midnight on Monday. Registered Democrats maintained a lead over registered Republicans at 3,971,607 registered Democrats to the GOP’s 3,673,783.
More than 1.4 million voters are registered as third-party or independent voters in the Keystone State.
Though the Democratic Party accounts for nearly 44% of registered voters compared to the GOP’s 40%, it has seen its advantage over Republicans dwindle this year.
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In 2020, there were 9,090,962 registered voters across the parties in Pennsylvania, only slightly more than the 9,088,583 voters registered this cycle.
President Biden won the state in 2020 by 1.17 percentage points. That year, Democrats had a larger margin of registered voters compared to their Republican counterparts, at 4.2 million to 3.5 million. The data show that Democrats had a registration advantage over Republicans by 685,818 voters during an election Biden won by 80,555 votes.
The GOP has whittled down that lead this year to a 297,824 margin. When comparing registered voters this election year to 2020, Democrats face a net loss of 257,281 voters, while Republicans have a net gain of 428,537 registered voters.
The Trump campaign on the ground in Pennsylvania celebrated the data, saying “Kamala Camp HQ is no doubt asking what the heck their 400 paid staffers and 50 offices in Pennsylvania have been doing this whole time, since their only output seems to be drumming up some meaningless stories about office openings and their supposedly well-oiled ground game.”
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More than double the number of previously registered Democrats changed their party affiliation this cycle compared to the number of registered Republicans who left the party: 54,668 registered Democrats changed their party affiliation compared to 25,634 Republicans, Pennsylvania Department of State data shows.
The data is broken down by county, with Philadelphia notably reporting 18,928 Democrats changed their party affiliation compared to just 3,401 Republicans doing the same. Bucks County, which sits outside of the City of Brotherly Love, reported 2,089 Democrats changed their party affiliation compared to 1,624 Republicans. In Allegheny County, home to the state’s second-largest city of Pittsburgh, 6,564 Democrats changed their party affiliation while 2,202 Republicans did the same.
The registered voter data comes after reports surfaced that concerns were mounting within the Democratic Party that the Harris campaign is failing to effectively connect with voters in Pennsylvania.
Poor campaign management and staffers lacking relationships with Democratic political leaders in the Keystone State are allegedly rocking the campaign, Politico reported last week. The outlet reported that Democrats are worried that the campaign’s state manager lacks an understanding of Philadelphia, the state’s largest city, while campaign staffers have allegedly not invited local Democratic politicians to events in the state, and have not effectively deployed surrogates.
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Politico reported that it spoke with 20 Democratic politicians, allies and party leaders for the story and that they were restless over Harris’ campaigning efforts.
“Our campaign is running the largest and most sophisticated operation in Pennsylvania history,” Harris’ national campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez said in comment to Fox News Digital when asked about the report last week. “While Trump’s team still refuses to tell reporters how few staff they have in the state, we have 50 coordinated offices and nearly 400 staff on the ground.”
“While the Trump campaign closed its ‘minority outreach offices,’ we invested in targeted advertising to Black and Latino voters starting in August of 2023 and have now spent more than any previous presidential campaign on outreach to these communities. The Vice President is also campaigning aggressively in Pennsylvania – spending 1 out of 3 days in the state in September.”
Vulnerable incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey made national headlines last week when he distanced himself from Democratic Party leaders and launched a campaign ad detailing how he “bucked Biden” and “sided” with former President Trump.
The ad features a married couple – Republican Marygrace and her Democrat husband Joe – praising Casey as an “independent,” citing his support for Trump’s trade policies and efforts to “protect fracking” from the Biden administration.
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“Our marriage – pure bliss! But on politics, we just don’t agree. Except for Bob Casey. He’s independent,” Marygrace says, with her husband chiming in, “That’s right!”
“Casey’s leading the effort to stop corporate greedflation and price-gouging,” Marygrace continues. “Casey bucked Biden to protect fracking and he sided with Trump to end NAFTA and put tariffs on China to stop them from cheating. So in this house, we agree, it’s Bob Casey who’s doing right by Pennsylvania.”
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Casey has served in the Senate since 2007, ultimately becoming a stalwart within the Democratic Party, voting on legislation Biden supported, for example, 98.5% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight data. He is now facing his toughest re-election effort yet, as he squares up against Republican challenger Dave McCormick.
The Fox News Power Rankings score the presidential contest in Pennsylvania as a toss-up, with the Senate race a lean Democrat designation. The Cook Political Report, this week, however, shifted the Senate contest from a leans-Democrat race to a toss-up race, underscoring Casey’s difficult re-election battle.
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Pennsylvania is touted as the state that will likely determine the outcome of the general election on Nov. 5. A Fox News survey of Pennsylvania voters published late last month found Harris narrowly ahead of Trump by two points (50-48%) among registered voters, while the race is tied at 49% each among likely voters.
Vulnerable House Democrat shreds Biden on border crisis in new ad
A House Democratic incumbent running in a tight race is touting his agreement with Republicans about President Biden’s responsibility on the border crisis.
Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., released a new ad his campaign called his “closing message” emphasizing his willingness to break from his own party.
“My first commander in the Army always said, ‘You’re not doing your job right if you don’t piss a few people off.’ I guess you could say I took his advice,” Ryan began in the minute-long clip.
“Even my own party — when I stood with Republicans and demanded Biden take action to secure our border. It’s a mess. He needs to clean it up.”
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He then accused Republicans, including his opponent Alison Esposito, of walking in lock-step with former President Donald Trump.
“Their loyalty is to big donors and Trump. The only flag I pledge allegiance to is the one I wore on my shoulder in combat,” Ryan said.
Esposito campaign manager Ben Weiner blasted Ryan in response, “Pat Ryan has been an open-border, pro-sanctuary proponent his entire career.”
“This is a lame attempt from Pat Ryan to run away from his pro-illegal migrant record two weeks before an election. Pat Ryan is wrong on all the issues. He has voted against lifting the SALT Cap, supports the radical Green New Deal, and thinks New Yorkers will not recognize that he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Hudson Valley voters know the real Sanctuary Pat and won’t be fooled,” Weiner told Fox News Digital.
Weiner also pointed out that Ryan signed an order in 2019 as Ulster County executive stopping local agencies from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Local reports from the time suggest Ryan did halt most cooperation of county employees with ICE, but the Mid Hudson News reported his order “avoids controversial ‘Sanctuary’ language,” and the Daily Freeman reported it did not stop law enforcement from working with immigration agents investigating crimes.
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New York’s 18th Congressional District includes part of New York City’s northern suburbs and is anchored by the city of Poughkeepsie. It also includes West Point Military Academy, Ryan’s own alma mater.
Republicans, whose 2022 House majority win was driven by victories in the Big Apple’s suburbs, have eyed Ryan’s seat as a prime pickup opportunity.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates his seat D+2.
Esposito is a 25-year veteran of the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Her own campaign emphasized the border in a recent ad warning her district is “paying the price of an open border.”
“DC politicians are funding illegal immigrants. Who’s fighting for us?” she asked.
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Her campaign also created a website using the “Sanctuary Pat” label to point out Ryan taking softer stances on the border in the past.
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But the issue has become a political lightening rod in this election.
What’s long been a hot-button issue for Republicans has now become a metric of moderation for Democrats who are working to appeal to middle-ground voters.
The paradigm shift shows the effects the border crisis has had on cities and towns throughout the country, with apprehensions between ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border hitting record levels under the Biden administration.
Trump beats VP Harris to announcing interview with podcast giant
Former President Trump will record an interview Friday with podcasting giant Joe Rogan, a campaign official tells Fox News Digital.
“The Joe Rogan Experience” boasts the largest podcast audience in the United States and gives Trump another chance to court younger, male voters, which makes up the majority of Rogan’s audience. Rogan’s show has 17.5 million subscribers on YouTube and more than 14 million followers on Spotify.
According to Politico, which first reported the story, Trump will tape the interview at Rogan’s studio in Austin, Texas.
Trump and Vice President Harris have made numerous stops at influential podcasts during the campaign season. Harris recently appeared on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, which has the largest female American audience, to discuss women’s issues. Trump has been a guest on such shows as Barstool Sports’ “Bussin with the Boys,” “Full Send” and Patrick Bet-David’s podcast.
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Rogan’s show has reportedly been in talks about an interview with Harris, although no conversation has been set with two weeks to go before Election Day.
Part of Rogan’s appeal to fans is his lack of overt partisanship, as he’s expressed support for such varying figures as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and even Trump at times, although he also once called the latter a threat to democracy. He said in 2020 he voted for the Libertarian candidate, Jo Jorgensen, for president.
Trump ripped Rogan on Truth Social earlier this year after Rogan had kind words for Kennedy, who later suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump.
“It will be interesting to see how loudly Joe Rogan gets BOOED the next time he enters the UFC Ring??? MAGA2024,” Trump wrote in August.
Rogan has also defended Trump, saying he didn’t act like a “dictator” despite what critics say and had the economy running well when he was president. He also said last month that a Harris administration would not improve free speech conditions in the United States.
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Most of the show’s episodes do not have political guests, as Rogan – a stand-up comedian and UFC commentator – tends to bring on an electic group of guests, including other comics, academics, journalists, actors and other celebrities.
Rogan’s show and its freewheeling conversational style often poke and question institutional norms and mainstream groupthink, and thus the show and its massive audience have been a subject of interest, controversy and even envy for other media organizations.
Earlier this year, Rogan predicted Harris would win the election.
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Small biz owner says Biden-Harris admin has crushed her company based on false claims
A small business owner who has successfully sold millions of infant sleepwear products tells Fox News Digital that her business was derailed by Biden administration actions cracking down on her product category, which she has called “anti-science.”
“We had been successfully in business for more than 10 years when we first heard about any rumblings with the government,” Manasi Gangan, owner of Nested Bean, told Fox News Digital about her infant sleepwear company. “We had sold more than 2 million products successfully to families across America and when we heard that the line of products were broadly categorized as unsafe, we couldn’t believe it.”
Gangan, an immigrant small business owner, told Fox News Digital that she started her “innovative line of sleepwear” that “mimics a parent’s gentle touch” after she had trouble getting her second child to sleep.
“All we’re trying to do is lend a helping hand to parents who much deserve the rest and sleep and we’ve been very successful in helping these parents get some good night’s rest,” Gangan said.
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In May, Nested Bean’s products, along with similar products made by Dreamland Baby, were pulled from shelves at major retailers like Amazon and Target after a letter from the Consumer Product Safety Commission warning of potential dangers of the weighted sleepwear products.
Gangan told Fox News Digital that the CPSC has not done the necessary due diligence. She said she’s done extensive safety research, commissioned a study that showed her weighted products did not hinder infant breathing, and that there has not been a single fatality associated with her product.
“They’re claiming that the product is not safe and we are again at a loss as to why, because in the 13 years that we have been developing and delivering these products, their safety has been our number one priority,” Gangan said. “We established these products and this innovation into the industry after speaking with safety experts, after taking inspiration and advice from research, neonatal care research, and yet, when we shared this information with this commission, they refused to take heed and are claiming that these categories of products are not safe.”
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Some lawmakers, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have gone as far as promoting legislation to ban the category of sleepwear altogether, saying earlier this year, “The stakes are simply too high to allow weighted infant sleep sacks and swaddles to stay on the market without evidence that they are safe.”
When reached for comment, Blumenthal told Fox News Digital, “What concerns me most is that these companies may be putting children’s lives at risk. They’ve sold millions of units of products while marketing them as safe in the face of strong opposition from child safety experts.”
“Parents and caretakers of newborns are notoriously hard-pressed for rest due to the intermittent sleep patterns of infants, and they need transparent information. Encouraging parents to use these products without clear evidence of their safety and against expert recommendations is dangerous and flat-out irresponsible.”
Gangan said she has shared information with Blumenthal’s office and met with his staff to show that her product is not hazardous, but that has “fallen on deaf ears” in what she suggested could be a politically based effort to promote a message that Democrats are looking out for families.
“Intentionally, the senator is providing disinformation to his constituents based on a political agenda,” Gangan said. “That’s the only thing that I can surmise, that it’s an election year.
Blumenthal’s office suggested they were open to looking at a “more comprehensive” study from Nested Bean.
Critics of the sleepwear company have cited a study from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) warning of potential dangers of weighted sleepwear products and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has claimed that multiple infant deaths have occurred due to weighted sleepwear products.
The AAP study, CBS News reported, did not test the products in question in real world conditions for extended periods and only tested weights on five babies for two minutes.
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Gangan has argued that CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. has “inaccurately attributed multiple infant deaths” and cited one coroner’s report in particular that didn’t mention Nested Bean or a weighted product and appears to be related to “a tragic combination of multiple proven-unsafe sleep practices.”
“While associations like the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have raised theoretical and hypothetical concerns regarding the potential dangers of added weight, there are no studies or incident data that show how, under what circumstances or under how much weight these potential dangers might manifest in weighted products on the market,” Gangan wrote in a February letter to Trumka. “On the other hand, there are studies showing effective and safe use of weighted products in hospital settings with the most vulnerable of infants. Nested Bean and other companies are supporting independent studies that will be peer reviewed, to help develop a better understanding of the potential issues involved.”
Gangan told Fox News Digital she has met with every CPSC commissioner except Trumka, who she says “does not take meetings,” and pleaded her case to no avail.
“We met with the chairman and other commissioners of the CPSC, shared our data research tests that we had successfully completed even before bringing out a single product into the market and since then, the tests that had been completed, to share how a safe product can be brought into the market, how innovation can be brought into the market, hoping to influence regulation, hoping to give data, facts, science to guide regulation,” Gangan said. “And instead we were shocked that we were being shut down. So as recently as April of 2024. Despite our multiple attempts at sharing information, being open and honest, Commissioner Trumka wrote letters to retailers pressurizing them to stop the sales of our products and this has been based on no data or science. It’s an anti-science attempt to spread misinformation based on personal bias.”
A study published in Advances in Neonatal Care journal in 2020 concluded that “no adverse events” occurred with babies sleeping under weighted blankets in 30-minute trial sessions.
In another letter to Trumka, Gangan wrote, “In April 2023, CPSC’s own internal Compliance staff completed an investigation of Nested Bean’s products, sending the company a closing letter stating that no further action was warranted.”
Trumka’s actions on the infant weighted sleepwear category have prompted pushback from the Republican-led House Small Business Committee, which echoed Gangan’s concern.
“Commissioner Trumka failed to take ‘reasonable steps’ to meet the requirements of the statute before he disclosed the identities of the manufacturers of the weighted blankets,” Committee Chair Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, wrote in a July letter to the CPSC. “First, he failed to ensure that the information is accurate. Next, he made allegations without the information being backed up by scientific research.”
“The Committee is concerned that a single CPSC Commissioner is exerting undue pressure on entities and forcing them to improperly remove small business’ products from their shelves to the detriment of those small businesses. Small businesses deserve a chance to fairly compete in the marketplace without undue influence from the federal government – whether that be through rulemaking or letters from a rogue CPSC Commissioner. America’s small businesses deserve to have their voices heard and considered.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the CPSC said, “Commissioner Trumka’s activities in this matter were conducted in his individual capacity as a member of the Commission, and not on behalf of the Commission itself.”
Gangan told Fox News Digital that starting her business was a pursuit of the “American Dream” and the regulations from the government have crippled that dream and has her questioning the narrative that Democratic administrations support immigrant and minority businesses.
“America is the land of possibilities, that’s what the whole world knows America for, so when I came to this country, an immigrant just with a degree and a pocketful of dreams, did very well in my career, decided to take a chance and start this business to help more parents like myself and the values that I have stood for supporting women, supporting small businesses, supporting truth, supporting science data, have been significantly challenged by this action,” Gangan said.
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“So on one hand, when we hear, ‘supporting immigrants, minorities, small businesses and standing for science’ and on the other hand, when the administration of the exact same party that I believed in is now threatening, my business, has been devastating for my business. I’m questioning my own beliefs right now. It has been devastating. We have lost 80% of our sales and it has stoked so much fear in our consumers that we are left sharing the same information that was never questioned by our customers before.”