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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said this week that President Joe Bidens border crisis is so dire, it makes former President Barack Obamas border crisis seem minuscule by comparison.

Cruz remarks, which he made during his Verdict podcast, came after U.S. Customs and Border Protection released numbers late last week showing the more than 302,000 illegal aliens were encountered on the U.S. southern border last month, by far the highest number in history.

Listen, illegal immigration was a problem under Barack Obama, was a serious problem under Barack Obama, but I gotta say, compared to now, its night and day, Cruz said. The Obama immigration problems seem quaint, that they are minuscule compared to what is happening now. The order of magnitude Ive joked multiple times that Joe Biden has done something I thought was impossible. Hes made me miss Barack Obama.

Cruz said that outside of DACA, Obama by and large, followed the law.

For people crossing illegally into the country, Barack Obama deported millions of people, Cruz said. If you remember, during the Obama administration, the Left got very mad. They called him the deporter in chief. And that made a difference. What has happened here under Joe Biden, and weve never seen a president do this in over 200 years of our nations history. There has never been a president that utterly and completely defies U.S. law, and lets people go by massive numbers.

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So for example, theres an authority under federal immigration law called parole authority, which is, you can release people in limited and special circumstances, Cruz continued. Under Obama, he would parole roughly 5,000 illegal immigrants a year. Under Trump, it was a comparable number. How much Biden is doing? About 800,000 a year. He took Obamas 5,000 a year and he blew it up to 800,000. Theyve made a decision, We are going to allow an invasion.'

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Cruz: Biden's Border Crisis Is So Bad He Makes Obama's Border Crisis Seem 'Minuscule' - The Daily Wire

On the campaign trail in 2016, Donald Trump often criticized President Barack Obama and Washington more broadly by invoking a very large number: the scale of the federal debt.

Weve doubled our national debt to $20 trillion under President Obama, he said during an October 2016 speech in Pennsylvania. In less than eight years, $10 trillion has been added. Think of it.

There were a few reasons for him to raise this issue (which, unlike other assertions he made during that campaign, was essentially true). One, of course, was that it was a way to seize upon the broad distaste Americans have for paying taxes and specifically, the lingering anger among Republicans about taxation and spending. The other was that this was still an issue on which Republican candidates focused though, once in office, not much was generally done to address it.

So it was with Trump. When he came into office, the debt was just a tick under $20 trillion. By the time he left in only four years, half the duration of Obamas White House tenure it had grown to just under $28 trillion. It remains the single largest four-year increase in history, though President Biden (who has seen the debt increase $6.4 trillion so far in his presidency) may give him a run for his money.

Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who is running against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, has at times criticized Trump for allowing the debt to increase so rapidly. This, too, isnt a mystery; while there wasnt a great deal of Republican criticism while Trump was overseeing the increase, it is still an issue on which Republicans in particular have strong feelings.

A Washington Post-538-Ipsos poll conducted this month found that 3 in 10 Republicans viewed the federal debt as one of the most important issues facing the country. Only inflation and immigration came in higher.

Trumps response to such criticism is simple: The economy was humming, and then the coronavirus pandemic hit. Thats why the debt surged so much. This was an argument used in defense of Obama, too, that the exogenous financial crash meant that enormous spending was suddenly needed. (Not that Trump often acknowledged that argument in 2016.)

New analysis from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, though, undermines Trumps argument. It considered several policies signed into law by Trump and found that, on a 10-year time span (as such legislation usually operates), Trumps administration added more than $8 trillion to the debt.

Importantly, less than half of that was a function of the pandemic.

The CRFB analysis indicates that when Trump came into office, the government was projected to add at least $3 trillion in debt over four years an estimate that derives from commitments made by previous presidents. Trump exceeded that (largely thanks to covid) but then also pushed up the debt for the presidents that followed him (including, should he win in November, himself).

While Americans like to complain about taxes, and the debt is a perennial source of performative frustration the old leaving debt for our grandkids line is about a century old they often dont really care that much if the spending is on things they like.

This very much fits into Trumpian politics, of course. Say the thing that people expect to hear, and then dont worry much about doing something else.

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Analysis | A new lens into Trump's legacy of adding to the federal debt - The Washington Post

One image is of a child raped and murdered in Indonesia in October 2015, and the other is of Obama with his niece at the White House in December 2015. 5 min read

This Facebook post purporting to show images of a child allegedly sexually assaulted by former United States President Barack Obama is FALSE.

The post claims the images were released in documents naming those associated with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The post reads: Photos of former US President Obama, one of those named in Epsteins paedophilia and prostitution documents released the other day, raping a little girl have been leaked. The dossier also contains photographs of the same child being taken out of a cardboard box after she had been kidnapped and sold as a sex slave, and then, most likely, tortured and killed.

One image is of a childs body stuffed in a box, tied up with duct tape. The other image is of Obama snuggling a young girl.

On 3 January 2024, court documents naming wealthy financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epsteins associates began being unsealed. Obama is not among those named in the newly released court documents. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 following his arrest on federal child sex trafficking charges.

A reverse search on Google Lens established that the first image is of a child who was defiled and murdered in Jakarta, Indonesia, in October 2015.

The image was featured in a 3 October 2015-dated article by The Jarkata Observer with a headline in Indonesian translating to; The discovery of a girls body in a cardboard box shocked Kamal residents.

According to the Jakarta Globe, the police in Jakarta identified the child as 9-year-old Putri Nur Fauziyah.

The lifeless body of Putri Nur Fauziyah, who was raped before she was murdered, was found inside an empty cardboard box in the Kalideres area last week and police have since collected DNA samples from relatives and neighbors, the report reads.

The incident was also reported by other media outlets.

A Google reverse image search established that the second image is of Obama and his niece.

The image, taken on 4 December 2015, was uploaded on Flickr on 8 January 2016 with the caption, The President snuggles with his niece Savita Ng after his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and her family dropped by the Oval Office.

The image is attributed to Pete Souza, former chief official White House photographer and director of the White House photo office for the Obama administration.

Souza published the photo on his personal blog on 30 December 2015 with the same caption.

The photograph is also available on Wikimedia Commons within the same context.

PesaCheck has looked into a Facebook post purportedly showing images of a child allegedly sexually assaulted by former US President Barack Obama, released in court documents naming those associated with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and finds it to be FALSE.

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FALSE: These images featuring former US President Obama are unrelated to Jeffery Epstein's court - PesaCheck

While gearing up for her September wedding to wife Jean Woodrum last year, Bree Woodrum had several wedding invitations left over, so she decided to shoot her shot and send the invites to some of her favorite famous people, including former President Barack Obama.

"The Obamas were first on my list because he legalized gay marriage which allowed us to get married as a same-sex couple," Bree tells PEOPLE exclusively. "Ive just always loved the Obamas in general because theyre just a powerhouse couple. He was also the first president I got to see and remember getting inaugurated, so hes special to me."

But Bree also says she always planned to send out leftover invites to celebs, including Drew Barrymore.

"I knew I wanted to send out invitations to some celebrities and famous TikTokers I love just in case any of them might actually reply," she explains. "I have seen others online in the past show responses or gifts they received from celebrities they invited to graduations, baby showers and weddings, and just thought, why not?"

Several months after the invites were sent, the Richmond, VA. resident got the surprise of a lifetime when Barack and former First Lady Michelle Obama responded.

In a video posted to TikTok, Bree can be seen freaking out after she received a letter of response from the Obamas.

"So I went to check the mail today and I open up the mail and this what was inside the mailbox!" she said in the video. Bree then goes on to show a yellow envelope featuring Barack's official presidential stamp and his signature on it to the camera.

At the time the initial video was shot, Bree's wife, Jean, was still at work, so Bree was forced to contain her excitement and refrain from opening the letter until her significant other got home.

"I'm freaking out," Bree exclaimed. "My wife isn't even at home. She's at work. I work from home and I have to wait like three more hours until I can share this news with her!"

Still that didn't stop her from sharing the exciting moment with her other loved ones. While she waited for Jean to get home, Bree told her mom and her best friend about the extra-special piece of mail.

In a follow-up video, Bree and Jean finally sat down and opened the letter to discover that it was signed by both Barack and Michelle.

"Congratulations on your wedding," the letter began. "We hope that your marriage is blessed with love, laughter and happiness and that your bond grows stronger with each passing year. This occasion marks the beginning of a lifelong partnership and as you embark on this journey, know you have our very best for the many joys and adventures that lie ahead."

And though the Woodrums initially thought the Obamas simply sent the letter through their office, a second look showed their signatures were handwritten, meaning even if the couple didn't write the entire letter themselves, they still had their hands on it.

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Bree Woodrum/ TikTok

To date, Bree's video has amassed 2.7 million views, over 417,000 likes with over 3,000 comments and counting.

"It was crazy last night just refreshing every second with hundreds of more likes and comments on my video," Bree tells PEOPLE.

"I love reading the comments and seeing all the sweet messages about our marriage. My favorite ones are [things like] 'You need to drive to your wifes job right now, we cant wait any longer to see whats inside the letter.' And others that keep saying Barack Obama and I are best friends now," she continued.

"Its all just hilarious and sweet at the same time. Im honored."

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Couple Jokingly Sends Wedding Invite to Michelle & Barack Obama And They Respond! (Exclusive) - PEOPLE

First daughter turned filmmaker

The elder child of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama jumped into the world of show business upon graduating from Harvard University in 2022, and is now a writer and director with two major projects under her belt.

Malia Obama made her red carpet debut at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on Thursday night, for the premiere of her short film The Heart. For the grand occasion, the 25-year-old looked cozy and casual in a light blue striped button-down, long gray wool coat, fuzzy gray scarf, and platform leather over-the-knee boots in a deep maroon. She wore her curly hair down, with small braids scattered throughout, and seemed to have on minimal makeup.

The Heart is Obamas first film, developed with mentor Donald Glovers production company, Gilga. She and the Atlanta creator and star also worked together on the 2023 Prime Video miniseries Swarm, a dark satire starring Dominique Fishback, Chloe Bailey, Damson Idris, Billie Eilish, Rory Culkin, and Paris Jackson.

The first thing we did was talk about the fact that she will only get to do this once, former Community star Glover, who releases music as Childish Gambino, told GQ last year. Youre [Barack] Obamas daughter. So if you make a bad film, it will follow you around.

Glover also said in a 2022 interview with Vanity Fair that the former first daughter is very down to earth, and cool, so working with her is always a positive experience.

A fresh talent, Obama also cowrote Swarms fifth episode, Girl, Bye, with seasoned pro and series co-creator Janine Nabers. (She is credited as simply Malia Ann.)

Some of her pitches were wild as hell, and they were just so good and so funny, Nabers told Entertainment Tonight last year. Shes an incredible writer. She brought a lot to the table Shes really, really dedicated to her craft.

I feel like shes just somebody whos gonna have really good things coming soon, Glover told Vanity Fair. Her writing style is great.

Rosa Sanchez is the senior news editor at Harper's Bazaar, working on news as it relates to entertainment, fashion, and culture. Previously, she was a news editor at ABC News and, prior to that, a managing editor of celebrity news at American Media. She has also written features for Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets.

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Malia Obama Makes Her Red Carpet Debut at Sundance Film Festival - Harper's BAZAAR