• House Dems' stimulus bill includes checks for illegal immigrants and protections from deportations and UPDATE
• Trump hints he'll sign another $1,200 stimulus check bill, vows to halt lockdown relief talks with Democrats until after election
• Pelosi says Democrats are looking at the 25th Amendment to remove Trump

Azerbaijan categorically refuses to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, with President Ilham Aliyev calling it a "red line." He reiterated that the region is legally part of his country.

"As for our red line, we have stated it very clearly," Aliyev explained. "Under no circumstances can the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan be violated. Under no circumstances will Azerbaijan consent to the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh."

In 1991, Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence from Azerbaijan, but the region is internationally classified as part of Azerbaijan. No UN member states have recognized the breakaway republic.

However, the disputed land is mainly populated by ethnic Armenians. Baku considers the enclave to be illegally occupied by Yerevan, and has stated its goal to gain full control of its territory.

Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that his country supports Nagorno-Karabakh's right to self-determination, describing that as non-negotiable. According to Pashinyan, Baku won't accept that the region has this right, while Yerevan is ready for compromise.

"Azerbaijan did not want and does not want to accept the right to the self-determination of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. And the right to self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh is, for us, a red line beyond which we cannot step," Pashinyan said.

• War enters second week: Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of shelling cities, targeting civilians
• Azerbaijan's president says "neighbor" Russia is most suitable mediator, Turkey accused of sending terrorists in from Middle East
• As Nagorno-Karabakh battle goes on, Armenia asks Washington if it supplied Turkey F-16s to aid Azerbaijan
• CIA and MI6 behind Armenian - Azerbaijani conflict?
• Explosive stakes on Armenia-Azerbaijan chessboard

President Trump on Wednesday slammed Joe Biden as "corrupt" following The Post's bombshell exposé on Hunter Biden's alleged hard drive and emails linking the Democratic presidential candidate to his son's job at a Ukrainian energy company.

"Vice President Biden, you owe the people of America an apology because it turns out you are a corrupt politician," Trump told a rally crowd in Des Moines, Iowa.

"The Biden family treated the vice presidency as a for-profit corporation, flying around the globe, collecting millions of dollars from China and Ukraine and Russia and other countries."

An alleged 2015 email from Burisma energy executive Vadym Pozharskyi, reported by The Post, thanks Hunter Biden for "giving an opportunity to meet your father" — appearing to debunk Biden's claim he didn't speak with his son about his "overseas business dealings."

Biden's campaign said Wednesday in a carefully worded statement there were no meetings with Pozharskyi on the former vice president's "official schedules."

Trump said the reporting indicates, however, that "Joe Biden has been blatantly lying about his involvement in his son's corrupt business dealings."

"These emails show that Biden's repeated claim that he has never spoken to Hunter about his business dealings were a complete lie," Trump said. "He's trying to cover up a massive pay for play scandal at the heart of his vice presidency."

"Hunter was being paid for access to his vice-president father, who was specifically put in charge of Ukraine and Russia," Trump said. "It's a corrupt family. Joe Biden personifies the selfish and corrupt globalists who got rich and powerful at your expense."

[...]

• Smoking-gun email in forgotten laptop reveals Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad
• Facebook and Twitter censor NY Post's new story about Hunter Biden on their platforms
• Twitter CEO Dorsey blames 'poor communication' in Biden story takedown, downplays Big Tech 'censorship' scandal
• More information that supports that the Hunter Biden laptop emails are real as social media races to erase

After the New York Post published a story on Hunter Biden's dealings with Burisma today from information found on a hard drive that allegedly belonged to the former vice president's son, Rudy Giuliani took to YouTube to lay out the case for a new accusation:

That Joe Biden was receiving half the payouts of Hunter's contracts.

Giuliani presents a text message, allegedly from Hunter Biden to Naomi Biden, his daughter. In the text, Hunter says that he has been paying for everything for 30 years and it has been tough, but that he won't take 50% of her salary as "Pop" did.

"I love you all but I don't receive any respect and that's fine I guess. Works for you apparently. I hope you all can do what I did, and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years. It's really hard but don't worry, unlike Pop, I won't make you give me half your salary."

Also in the video, Biden describes contracts that his brother James, who was woefully unqualified, received simply because of his association with Biden as vice president. Biden also allegedly used his influence to 'help' James' wife, Sara.

Giuliani also suggests that he has additional information that he will be releasing in the coming days. The information is presumably from the drive that was recovered from a Delaware computer repair shop, which was also turned over to the FBI previously.

If these accusations are true, it could lead to one of the biggest October Surprises in the history of the country. Biden has denied any involvement in his son's business dealings, though the evidence that was released during today's NY Post article suggests that Biden, did indeed know about his son's work.

• Smoking-gun email in forgotten laptop reveals Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad
• Facebook repeatedly censors NY Post article on why Trump supporters will vote him a second term
• Not a 'neutral public forum': Ted Cruz says Facebook actively censors, suppresses conservative speech
• Biden's son-in-law advises campaign on pandemic while investing in Covid-19 startups

After downplaying the censorship of links to a New York Post exposé on the Biden family's alleged murky business dealings, Twitter is still blocking links to the "unsafe" story, even ones posted by US lawmakers. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey stepped in to clear the air, explaining that the article contained "hacked material," and was therefore in breach of Twitter's rules.

The Republicans of the House Judiciary Committee skirted the ban by placing the article on their official .gov website, telling followers to "Click, Share, and RT" the scandal-laden story. However, users trying to click the link were met on Thursday with a warning from Twitter, telling them that the link "may be unsafe."

Conservatives were outraged. "They aren't even hiding their bias anymore," the Judiciary Republicans tweeted. "This is an attack against conservatives." Rep. Mark Walker (R-North Carolina) called the link suppression "election interference."

Twitter reversed its ban later on Thursday morning, as the Judiciary Republicans' link worked as normal by then. A Twitter spokesman told the conservative Daily Caller that the decision to label the website "unsafe" was an "error."

Nevertheless, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee requested an emergency hearing on "Big Tech's repeated efforts to interfere in the 2020 election," before voters go to the polls. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), who sits on the Judiciary Committee, also called on Thursday for Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify on potential "campaign law violations."

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley fired off separate letters to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey questioning the Silicon Valley titans' moves to limit the distribution of The Post's exclusive exposé detailing emails that indicate Hunter Biden introduced his father, Joe Biden, to a Ukrainian energy executive.

Meanwhile, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz sent a missive of his own to Dorsey, blasting Twitter's decision to block users from sharing the story "quite hypocritical given its willingness to allow users to share less well-sourced reporting critical of other candidates for public office. This can only be seen as an obvious and transparent attempt by Twitter to influence the upcoming presidential election."

Rep. Jim Jordan, of Ohio, also spoke out, sending a letter to Zuckerberg, saying the platform's actions "raises questions about Facebook's commitment to free speech and free and fair elections." He demanded to know why and how Facebook had decided to reduce dissemination of The Post's report.

In his letter to Zuckerberg, Hawley charged that: "The seemingly selective nature of this public intervention suggests partiality on the part of Facebook. Your efforts to suppress the distribution of content revealing potentially unethical activity by a candidate for president raises a number of additional questions, to which I expect responses immediately."

Moreover, he asked why the company said publicly that the story was subject to fact-checking, given that such a statement could be "a reflection of Facebook's assessment of a news report's credibility."

Hawley said he wants to know whether Facebook has evidence that The Post's article contains "disinformation" or other inaccuracies and whether the company will disclose any such evidence. He also asked whether the Biden campaign or any of the former vice president's representatives had asked Facebook to "suppress" the story; and what steps the company had taken to make sure its employees' "political preferences don't influence decisions to suppress content."

The senator demanded to know how Twitter had determined that The Post's story was violating its policy on hacked materials and why the company had taken the "unprecedented action" to lock the news org's account. "I ask that you immediately answer these questions and provide the necessary justifications so that your users can feel confident that you are not seeking to influence the outcome of the presidential election with your content removal decisions."

Earlier, President Trump's campaign accused Facebook of trying to tip the 2020 election in Biden's favor. "Facebook is actively interfering in the election," the campaign tweeted. "Facebook is rigging the election for Joe Biden."