Donald Trump Poll News

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley notched her first victory of the 2024 primary campaign, besting former President Donald Trump in Washington D.C.

Haley won the contest with nearly 63% of the vote, according to an Associated Press call of the race shortly after polls closed Sunday. The results mean the former South Carolina governor will walk away with 19 delegates.

Washington D.C. represented Haley’s possible best shot at notching a victory and ending Trump’s undefeated primary streak. While Trump won the district in an uncontested 2020 primary, he finished a distant third behind Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich during the 2016 primary. The district also leans heavily towards Democrats, with President Biden garnering 92% of the Washington D.C. vote in the 2020 Election.

TRUMP WINS THE MICHIGAN GOP PRIMARY, BRINGING HIM ONE STEP CLOSER TO SECURING REPUBLICAN NOMINATION

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump has so far made easy work of this year’s GOP primary, notching victories in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, the Virgin Islands, South Carolina and Michigan. The seemingly easy stream of wins has solidified the former president’s frontrunner status in the race, with the campaign telling Fox News Digital ahead of the results that they have already begun to look forward to the general election.

“Republican voters have delivered resounding wins for President Trump in every single primary contest and this race is over,” a spokesperson for the campaign said. “Our focus is now on Joe Biden and the general election.”

Former President Donald Trump. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

DC PRIMARY REPRESENTS HALEY’S BEST CHANCE YET TO BEAT TRUMP

The former president held a commanding lead heading into Washington D.C.’s contest, holding ten times as many delegates as Haley before his first primary loss. Trump still holds a commanding lead heading into the most important week on the calendar, with Haley only gaining 19 with the victory in the nation’s capital.

Haley, meanwhile, has remained as the only other contender in the field, vowing to stay in the race despite a recent loss in her home state of South Carolina.

Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign event at the Orangeburg Mall Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Orangeburg, S.C. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford)

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The Haley campaign will look to carry the momentum to Monday’s contest in North Dakota, where 29 delegates will be up for grabs and this week’s “Super Tuesday,” where voters in 15 states will head to the polls to determine who gets a share of 865 total delegates. Haley has invested heavily in Super Tuesday, with her campaign announcing a seven-figure ad-buy in various states set to vote that day last week.

The magic number to secure the nomination is 1,215 delegates, meaning no candidate will become the presumptive nominee yet in the upcoming week.

Lawmakers are finally rolling out a bill to fund part of the federal government for fiscal year 2024 on Sunday, bringing Congress closer to averting a partial government shutdown come March 8.

If passed it will take Congress another step toward ending a battle that’s led to historic levels of dysfunction, particularly within the House of Representatives.

The 1,050-page legislation is a package of six bills dealing with departments and agencies whose funding expires on Friday – dealing with agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); the Departments of Justice and Commerce; Energy and Water Development; the Department of the Interior; and Transportation and housing.

Both Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., were quick to claim victory after the deal was announced.

HOUSE GOP LEADERS JETTISON PROMISE TO VOTE ON 12 INDIVIDUAL SPENDING BILLS

Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released bill text to fund the government (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images/Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Johnson’s office touted modest cuts to key agencies that have been criticized by conservatives, including a 10% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a 6% cut to the FBI, and a 7% cut to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).

On the policy front, Republican leaders say it would also prevent the Department of Justice from going after parents who speak out at school board meetings.

The fact that the bill also separates the 12 total appropriations bills into at least two separate packages is also a big win for Johnson, who has pledged to avoid a massive “omnibus” spending bill that nearly all Republicans have opposed. It’s the first time since 2018 that Congress did not pass an all-in-one bill, according to Johnson’s office.

Schumer, meanwhile, said in a statement that the bill “fully funds” a federal food program aimed at women, infants and children (WIC) and includes infrastructure investments.

Both touted additional help for U.S. military veterans. 

BIDEN CALLS JOHNSON, SCHUMER FOR WHITE HOUSE MEETING AMID CONGRESSIONAL CHAOS STIRRING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN FEARS

Johnson scored a victory in forcing Congress to not pass an omnibus spending bill this year. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

“This legislation forbids the Department of Justice from targeting parents exercising their right to free speech before school boards, while it blocks the Biden Administration from stripping Second Amendment rights from veterans,” Johnson said in a statement. “It imposes deep cuts to the EPA, ATF, and FBI, which under the Biden Administration have threatened our freedoms and our economy, while it fully funds veterans’ health care.”

Schumer said the bill “maintains the aggressive investments Democrats secured for American families, American workers, and America’s national defense.”

“Among the good things Democrats helped secure in this package I am particularly proud that it fully funds the vital WIC program, makes critical investments in our infrastructure, and strengthens programs that benefit services for our veterans,” he said.

TRUMP ENDORSES EX-KEVIN MCCARTHY AIDE VINCE FONG TO FILL VACANT SEAT AS HIS FORMER AIDES BACK FONG’S OPPONENT

Congressional leaders have been forced to extend fiscal year 2023’s funding priorities four times since Sept. 30 over a myriad of disagreements over spending levels and government policy. 

Most of the conflict has come from GOP hardliners in the House who have leveraged their conference’s razor-thin majority in a bid to force severe spending cuts and passage of conservative policies, even as Democrats controlling the Senate and White House have rejected virtually all of their major demands.

The ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy was precipitated by government funding disagreements. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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That infighting led to the first-ever ouster of a House Speaker when a small group of conservatives joined all House Democrats to vote out ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy for working with Schumer to avoid a government shutdown late last year.

GOP hardliners have also lodged protest votes that have effectively halted House floor activity in opposition to House Republican leaders’ decisions on federal funding.

While Sunday’s release of bill text is a significant step to putting that fight to rest, the war is far from over – Congress has until March 22 to fund the remaining portions of the government. That group of bills, which includes military spending and homeland security, is expected to be far more difficult given the vast policy disagreements between Republicans and Democrats there.

The United States Supreme Court’s decision in a case that will determine whether former President Trump can be kicked off Colorado’s state primary ballot for allegedly interfering in the 2020 election could arrive as early as Monday. 

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled in December that Trump is disqualified from being president again and ineligible for the state’s primary – which is Tuesday. Trump, who has since been barred from primary ballots in Illinois and Maine, has challenged the Colorado court’s decision.   

A woman under a purple umbrella walks past the Supreme Court, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The state’s highest court was the first to invoke Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, a post-Civil War constitutional provision aimed at preventing those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office. Until now, the Supreme Court has never ruled on the provision.

The potential resolution of the case on Monday, a day before Super Tuesday contests in 16 states, would remove uncertainty about whether votes for Trump, the leading Republican candidate for president, will ultimately count. Both sides had requested fast work by the court, which heard arguments on Feb. 8.

HALEY QUESTIONS WHETHER TRUMP WILL FOLLOW CONSTITUTION, BACKTRACKS ON PLEDGE TO SUPPORT GOP NOMINEE

Except for when the end of the term nears in late June, the court almost always issues decisions on days when the justices are scheduled to take the bench. But the next scheduled court day isn’t until March 15. The justices won’t be there on Monday. Any opinions will be posted on the court’s website beginning just after 10 a.m. EST Monday.

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump gestures to supporters during an election night watch party at the State Fairgrounds on February 24, 2024 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The anticipated decision comes after the justices agreed last week to hear arguments in late April over whether Trump can be criminally prosecuted on election interference charges, including his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The court’s decision to step into the politically-charged case calls into question whether Trump will stand trial before the November election.  

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The former president faces more than 90 criminal charges in four prosecutions. Of those, the only one with a trial date that seems poised to hold is his state case in New York, where he’s charged with falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments to a porn actor. That case is set for trial on March 25, and the judge has signaled his determination to press ahead.

Border officials encountered upwards of 14,000 illegal migrants at the southern border between Saturday and Friday, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources. 

Leading the encounters was the Tucson, Arizona, sector, with more than 2,000 apprehensions of illegal immigrants, per reporting from Fox News’ Bill Melugin. 

And that’s on top of more than 1,000 gotaways on Saturday. 

A group of migrants walk to a van as hundreds of migrants gather along the border Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in Lukeville, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

The figures have followed a trend since President Biden took office, whereby illegal border crossings dip around January and February, then tick back up in March, before exploding in the spring. 

“If no action is taken – buckle up for the rest of the year, if the last 3 years are any indication,” Melugin tweeted. “Especially if migrants feel they need to get in before Biden is potentially voted out of office.”

The figures come as the border has become central to the 2024 presidential election. President Joe Biden and the presumed GOP nominee, former President Donald Trump, both made dueling trips to the Texas border on Thursday. 

CNN HOST DEMANDS MAYORKAS RESPOND TO TRUMP CLAIM ON BIDEN WELCOMING MIGRANTS TO CHANGE ‘ELECTORAL DYNAMICS’

Biden visited Brownsville, Texas and an area of the Rio Grande Valley where illegal crossings have dropped sharply. 

Trump, meanwhile, visited Eagle Pass, an area that has become a flashpoint between Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the Biden administration over the latter’s handling of illegal immigration. 

Asylum seekers cross the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States on September 30, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Biden began his administration by making good on his campaign promise to roll back his predecessor’s immigration policies. He issued more than 90 executive actions on the border. But with the election looming, and under pressure from Republicans and even some Democrats, Biden has shifted course, pressing for asylum restrictions. 

Still, Biden has stopped short of issuing any meaningful executive action on the border, saying the matter would best be left resolved by legislation. 

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Biden embraced a sweeping bipartisan measure that was ultimately blocked by Senate Republicans over its tying of border security to wartime aid for Ukraine. 

Tennessee is deploying National Guard members to the southern border as Republican governors continue to support Texas in its showdown with the Biden administration over immigration enforcement.

Gov. Bill Lee, who visited the southern border in Eagle Pass, Texas, earlier this month, met with Tennessee National Guard members at Millington Tennessee Army National Guard Armory ahead of their voluntary deployment.

“As America faces the most severe border crisis in decades, TN is showing the rest of the country what it means to lead,” the Tennessee governor posted on X. “Today, I joined TN National Guard members who will soon deploy on a voluntary mission to secure the Southern border as the federal government fails to act.”

The initial deployment will consist of 50 members and last through March before a second wave replaces them later in the spring. It was unclear where exactly they would be sent.

BIDEN ADMIN SHREDDED FOR REFERRING TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AS ‘NEWCOMERS’: ‘NOT SERIOUS PEOPLE’

Gov. Bill Lee met with members of the Tennessee National Guard at the armory in Millington on Saturday. (Gov. Bill Lee/X)

During his visit to Eagle Pass, Lee gathered with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and other Republicans in a show of force to support Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. 

Gov. Lee said the National Guard members are deploying on a voluntary mission to secure the southern border as the federal government fails to act on immigration enforcement. (Gov. Bill Lee/X)

Abbott has butted heads with Biden and his administration, accusing the federal government of not being tough enough on illegal crossings.

BIDEN’S REVERSAL OF TRUMP POLICIES CREATED BORDER CRISIS, EXPERT SAYS: ‘INTENTIONALLY UNSECURED IT’

Republicans have long criticized the Biden administration for reversing Trump-era border policies and creating a crisis at the southern border that is seeing waves of migrants illegally cross daily.

Tennessee will deploy about 50 National Guard members in two waves over the coming months. (Gov. Bill Lee/X)

In December alone, U.S. Border Patrol reported there were more than 300,000 encounters – an all-time record. 

Meanwhile, Biden and his administration have sought to shift the blame for the crisis onto the shoulders of Republicans. The administration says it is working with a broken system that needs significantly more funding and comprehensive immigration reform. 

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Both Biden and former President Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, made dueling visits to the southern border in Texas on Thursday as immigration remains a top concern for voters.

Fox News’ Brie Stimson contributed to this report.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas responded to a “Saturday Night Live” sketch that used him to poke fun at President Biden’s age on Sunday.

“SNL” depicted Mayorkas interviewing with CNN’s Dana Bash, an interview that ended up taking place in reality on Sunday morning on CNN’s “State of the Union.” 

On the show, the actor depicting Mayorkas rejected claims that Biden was moving slowly at the border during his visit last week, saying he saw the president carry out superhuman feats of agility and strength.

“Behind closed doors, he’s a dynamo,” the faux-Mayorkas said. “He went into beast mode. He said, ‘We gotta tighten this border. Look how easy I can cross it.’ Then he parkoured up to the top of the border wall. He front-flipped into the Rio Grande and came back up with a fish in his mouth.”

WHITE HOUSE CALLS FOR SANCTUARY CITIES TO COOPERATE WITH ICE AMID FUROR OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMES

Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas responded to an “SNL” skit that used him to poke fun at President Biden’s age on Sunday. (Getty Images)

Bash asked Mayorkas about the sketch Sunday morning, asking, “Does that happen every day?”

SALVADORAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTED IN CONNECTION TO MARYLAND MURDER OF 2-YEAR-OLD BOY

“We all need a little comic relief now and then. I thought George Clooney did a terrific job,” Mayorkas said, cracking a joke of his own. In reality, Marcello Hernández played Mayorkas.

Bash noted that the joke has a kernel of truth, in that a number of Americans are concerned about Biden’s age, while administration officials tend to point to supposed examples of the president’s vitality not seen by the public. Mayorkas continued this trend in response to Bash.

“They should spend a bit of time with Joe Biden like I have done,” he responded before offering an anecdote. “I prepare a lot for meetings with him and engagements with him because he’s remarkably detail-oriented, probing and operationally focused.”

“But no fishing in the Rio Grande?” Bash asked.

“Not for me,” Mayorkas said.

Critics poked fun at Biden for moving slowly during his visit to the U.S.-Mexico border last week at Brownsville, Texas. (Getty Images)

Biden visited the U.S.-Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas, last week, holding a competing event with former President Trump, who visited the much more heavily trafficked Eagle Pass, Texas.

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Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that Brownsville has seen just 46 migrant encounters over the past five days, compared to 2,106 in Eagle Pass. The former averaged 17 migrant encounters per day in February, while the latter averaged 462.

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley questioned whether former President Donald Trump would follow the Constitution if elected again and refused to say whether she would support him in the general election.

“I don’t know,” Haley said during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, where she was asked if she believed Trump would follow the Constitution if elected. “When you go and you talk about revenge. When you go and you talk about, you know, vindication.… I don’t know what that means and only he can answer for that.”

Haley, who is the only remaining contender in the GOP primary field facing off with Trump, has so far failed to gain traction among voters. Trump has easily swept every race of the primary season so far and currently holds 10 times the number of delegates as Haley, who has vowed to stay in the race.

ILLINOIS JUDGE REMOVES TRUMP FROM STATE BALLOT, CITING “INSURRECTIONIST BAN”

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

That vow came despite Haley losing her home state of South Carolina last month, with the candidate instead looking ahead to “Super Tuesday” on March 5 and the over 800 delegates up for grabs on the primary season’s most important day.

Washington, D.C.’s GOP primary, which is held over three days this weekend, is also seen as a potential pickup for Haley, with Trump having come in a distant third in the district the last time he ran contested in the 2016 primary.

Former President Donald Trump pumps his fist after speaking during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2024, in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

BIDEN BORDER VISIT UNDERSCORES KAMALA HARRIS’ SHRINKING ROLE IN HANDLING MIGRANT CRISIS

With Trump’s status as the clear frontrunner in seemingly little danger, Haley was pressed on whether she planned to support the former president if he secures the GOP nomination, something the former South Carolina governor refused to commit to despite an earlier pledge.

“If you talk about an endorsement, you’re talking about a loss. I don’t think like that. When you’re in a race, you don’t think about losing,” Haley said when asked if she felt bound by an RNC pledge to support the eventual nominee. “What I can tell you is I don’t think Donald Trump or Joe Biden should be president. I don’t think we need two candidates in their 80s… I think people want a new generational leader that is going to go back to what the American dream is, what we want for our kids, and a place that’s something that we can be proud of again.”

Nikki Haley hosts a rally in Conway, South Carolina, before the Palmetto State’s primary on Jan. 28, 2024. (Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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Pressed further on her former pledge, Haley argued that she will “make what decision I want to make” when it comes to endorsing the former president.

“I don’t look at what ifs,” Haley said. “I look at how do we continue the conversation.”

An effort championed by the Biden administration to have the federal government pay college students to register voters ahead of the 2024 election could have serious legal ramifications if it’s being done to aid President Biden’s “own re-election efforts,” according to some legal experts.

Vice President Kamala Harris announced an election initiative to boost voter turnout during a meeting with voting rights activists at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building this week.

“We have been doing work to promote voter participation for students, and, for example, we have, under the federal work study program, now allowed students to get paid through federal work study to register people and to be nonpartisan poll workers,” Harris said Tuesday. “As we know, this is important for a number of reasons.”

One reason for the effort, Harris said, is to “engage our young leaders” in the process and “activate them in terms of their ability to strengthen our community.”

KAMALA HARRIS PRAISES ‘NONPARTISAN POLL WORKER,’ WHICH IMMEDIATELY BACKFIRES WHEN PEOPLE LEARN WHO HE IS

Vice President Kamala Harris (Leigh Vogel/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project, told Fox News Digital the effort is being carried out by the Biden administration to “aid its own re-election efforts.”

“The Biden administration is weaponizing the federal government to aid its own re-election efforts. Using tax dollars to pay overwhelmingly liberal college students to register and turn out voters is only the latest scandal,” Snead said. 

“With Executive Order 14019, President Biden turned the entire federal government into a get-out-the-vote operation, and agencies are collaborating with left-wing nonprofit groups to get the job done.

“Using the levers of the federal government to aid an incumbent is an abuse of power and a threat to the democracy President Biden claims to cherish.”

WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL BOARD SAYS BIDEN SHOULD IGNORE LIBERAL ‘WISH LISTS,’ SECURE BORDER TO BEAT TRUMP

Hans A. von Spakovsky is a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies who serves as manager of the think tank’s Election Law Reform Initiative. He told Fox News Digital the taxpayer-funded effort is an “outrageous abuse of power” by the Biden administration.

“This is the unauthorized use of taxpayer funds to get out the vote for the Biden campaign and Democratic candidates,” he said. “It is a violation of the Hatch Act as well as the Anti-Deficiency Act. It is an outrageous abuse of power.”

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris stand onstage and wave to the crowd during a rally at George Mason University Jan. 23, 2024, in Manassas, Va. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

In a memo published Monday, the Department of Education clarified that federal work study funds could be used to support voter registration activities.

“The Department is today clarifying that FWS funds may be used for employment by a Federal, State, local, or Tribal public agency for civic engagement work that is not associated with a particular interest or group,” the memo stated.

Harris’ comments announcing the effort sparked backlash from some conservatives and Republican lawmakers on social media, including Tennessee Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty, who accused President Biden of supporting the move to “mobilize (his) voters” ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

“Biden signed EO14019 ordering federal govt to use taxpayer $ to mobilize (his) voters. [Stephen Miller] has FOIAed details, and I’ve sought them in Congress, but Biden is hiding them. Sounds like the election-year plan is underway,” Hagerty wrote in a Tuesday evening post to X.

In a statement to Fox, a spokesperson for Hagerty insisted the senator is “very concerned” the Biden administration is using government resources to “boost” its own re-election chances.

“Sen. Hagerty is very concerned that the Biden Administration is using government resources to target Democrat voter groups and boost its re-election chances,” the spokesperson said. “The administration continues to hide these taxpayer-funded voter mobilization plans despite his multiple requests for basic transparency.

“And now Vice President Harris says they are paying ‘nonpartisan poll workers’ — with her example being a left-wing partisan activist. If there’s nothing to hide, then the Biden administration should release the plans.”

Harris said the effort by the federal government to pay students to register voters is to “engage our young leaders” and “activate them in terms of their ability to strengthen our community.” (Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images)

In social media post Tuesday morning, Harris applauded poll workers for their efforts ahead of the 2024 presidential election. However, her complimentary remarks quickly backfired.

“Our democracy could not function without nonpartisan poll workers like Vasu and Rob whom I met in Georgia. President Biden and I thank you and we support you,” she wrote in a post on X, sharing a photo of her appearing to listen to Vasu Abhiraman.

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X’s Community Notes immediately tagged the tweet with additional context that readers “might want to know,” that the supposed nonpartisan poll worker Abhiraman was actually a liberal advocate who promotes the progressive movement.

“The ‘nonpartisan poll worker’ on the left is Vasu Abhiraman, a staffer at the left-wing Alliance for Justice and formerly of ACLU Georgia,” said on Harris’ tweet.

Fox News Digital contacted the Biden administration seeking a response to the abuse of power allegations.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Former President Trump attacked his Republican opponent Nikki Haley on Saturday, claiming that former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is “a little bit” smarter than her.

Trump addressed an enthusiastic crowd in Richmond, Virginia on Saturday night, days before the Super Tuesday votes are scheduled to take place. 

Earlier on Saturday, Trump won the Idaho, Missouri, and Michigan Republican contests. Speaking to a crowd of supporters in the evening, the former president lamented about media coverage of his statements referring to President Biden as “President Obama.”

Trump maintained that he refers to Biden as “Obama” intentionally. He also acknowledged that he has mixed up Haley, who he calls “Birdbrain,” with Pelosi.

TRUMP DOMINATES IDAHO REPUBLICAN CAUCUSES AS SUPER TUESDAY NEARS

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)

“I purposely mix up a name, like Birdbrain… you know who Birdbrain is, right, Nikki, with Nancy Pelosi,” he began.

“I put them in because they’re interchangeable in my mind,” Trump added. “Except I have to say, I shouldn’t say this about a semi-Republican, but I think Pelosi’s probably a little bit smarter, actually.”

DEMS MOCK RNC FOR ‘DESPERATE’ FUNDRAISING DRIVE THAT INCLUDES STARK ADMISSION ON DNC’S MONEY ADVANTAGE

Former US President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during a “Get Out the Vote” rally at the Greater Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, Virginia, on March 2, 2024. (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

In January, Haley said that Trump was not “mentally fit” for office after he referred to Pelosi as Haley during a speech.

“Last night Trump is at a rally and he’s going on and on, mentioning me multiple times as to why I didn’t take security during the Capitol riots. Why I didn’t handle Jan. 6 better. I wasn’t even in D.C. on Jan. 6. I wasn’t in office then,” Haley said during a January rally in Keene, New Hampshire.

“They’re saying he got confused, that he was talking about something else, he’s talking about Nancy Pelosi. He mentioned me multiple times in that scenario.”

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump reacts to supporters while arriving on stage during a Get Out the Vote Rally March 2, 2024 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Haley campaign for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

First lady Jill Biden was interrupted by a group of pro-Palestinian hecklers while campaigning for her husband Saturday.

While speaking in Tucson, Arizona, the first lady was emphasizing the importance of the 2024 presidential election before she was interrupted by a rowdy crowd.

“To do what we did in 2020 and 2022, we’re going to talk to our friends about why this election is so important,” Biden said at the podium. “Tell them what’s at stake.

“Sign up for phone banks and canvasing shifts. We’re going to meet this moment.”

POLL SHOWS BIDEN’S LEAD OVER TRUMP SHRINKING IN 2024 MATCHUP AS CONCERNS OVER PHYSICAL FITNESS GROW

First lady Jill Biden was heckled by a group of protesters Saturday who accused her of supporting genocide in Gaza. (Pool)

The group of protesters then began yelling and accused the Bidens, who have been vocally supportive of Israel, of supporting “genocide” in the Israel-Hamas war.

“It’s genocide!” one male demonstrator yelled. “You and your husband support the genocide of the Palestinian people!”

In a counterprotest, audience members began shouting, “Four more years,” to quiet the disruptive group. After several seconds, the protesters were silenced. 

The first lady thanked the supporters and continued with her speech.

EX-DEM LAWMAKER SAYS HIS PARTY APPROACHES LATINO VOTERS ‘IN A VERY IGNORANT FASHION’: ‘THAT DRIVES ME NUTS’

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden during an event marking the three-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pa., Jan. 5, 2024 (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“We are going to meet this moment as if our rights are at risk, because they are,” she added. Around a minute later, the pro-Palestinian demonstrators started yelling and interrupted her again. 

President Biden has had low approval ratings in recent months as the presidential race between him and former President Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, heats up.

According to a New York Times/Sienna College poll released Saturday, 43% of respondents said they would vote for the sitting president if the election were held today. Forty-seven percent of respondents “strongly disapprove” of Biden’s performance, and only 17% said they “strongly approve” of him.

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden greet Col. Chris McDonald, commander of 436th Airlift Wing at Dover Air Force Base, and his wife Diana McDonald at Dover Air Force Base, Del., Feb. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump has cruised to victory in Idaho’s Republican caucuses, winning yet another victory over his rival for the GOP nomination, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

The Associated Press projected Trump’s win as he barrels towards what’s expected to be a big Super Tuesday performance on March 5, when voters in 15 states will head to the polls to make their pick for their party’s nominee.

Haley has vowed to remain in the race at least through Super Tuesday, even though she has not yet won a single contest against her former boss.

DEMS MOCK RNC FOR ‘DESPERATE’ FUNDRAISING DRIVE THAT INCLUDES STARK ADMISSION ON DNC’S MONEY ADVANTAGE

Former President Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. (Getty Images)

A total of 32 delegates are up for grabs in Idaho, all of which will go to any candidate winning more than 50% of the vote statewide. 

If no candidate receives a majority, the delegates are allocated proportionally to the vote results. However, a candidate must receive at least 15% of the vote to receive any delegates.

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Democrats will hold their caucuses in Idaho on May 23.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

The Washington Post editorial board warned that President Biden‘s efforts to defeat former President Trump in a 2024 presidential rematch may depend on how loyal he is to the “wish lists” of left-leaning interest groups ahead of the election.

“Mr. Trump could well win if their rematch were today, but Mr. Biden has eight months to improve his fortunes. Nodding to the priorities of every Cabinet agency and the wish lists of liberal interest groups won’t shift any narratives,” the Post’s editorial board noted Saturday.

The editorial board’s claim came as it discussed next week’s State of the Union address and warned Biden not to “squander his biggest televised audience of the year by delivering another box-checking laundry list that drags on more than an hour.”

Specifically, the left-leaning news outlet suggested that Biden should promise to use executive action on the border crisis, saying that he “will lose reelection if he doesn’t address the southern border.”

“It’s valid to castigate Republicans for killing the sensible bipartisan border deal, something Mr. Biden did during his visit to a Texas border town on Thursday — but insufficient. He needs to convey he understands that many see the millions of border crossings as a breakdown in one of the federal government’s core responsibilities and outline how he will use executive authorities to stop it if Congress won’t,” the editorial board wrote.

POLLS SHOW BIDEN FACING ‘ENTHUSIASM GAP’ HEADING INTO 2024 ELECTION SEASON

The Washington Post editorial board warned President Biden not to “squander his biggest televised audience of the year” during next week’s State of the Union address. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Prompting Biden to resonate with more viewers and listeners, the editorial board insisted the president must “rethink an exhausted format, step up to the bully pulpit and make a case less for himself than for his worldview” as he addresses a joint session of Congress on March 7.

“He needs to push back on the self-defeating isolationism, nativism and protectionism of the ‘America First’ movement, whose ideas are as dangerous now as when they were previously tried, and failed, in the 1930s,” the editorial board wrote.

Several national polls in recent weeks suggest that Biden is suffering from an enthusiasm gap when it comes to how excited voters are to support him in November.

A Monmouth University poll conducted last month showed that only 32% of registered voters feel at least somewhat enthusiastic about Biden’s candidacy, and that number stands at just 62% among Democrats.

The same number of registered voters, 32%, say they are at least somewhat confident in Biden’s physical and mental ability to be president. The same poll shows that confidence in Biden’s abilities among Democrats has dropped significantly to 72% after standing at 91% in 2020. 

The Monmouth poll also shows Biden with a meager 39% approval rating and that he is under water on several issues with voters, including jobs, immigration and foreign policy.

BIDEN APPROVAL PLUMMETS TO NEAR CARTER LEVEL: GALLUP

“Mr. Trump could well win if their rematch were today, but Mr. Biden has eight months to improve his fortunes,” the Washington Post editorial board wrote Saturday. (FOX News)

The weak approval rating is backed up by other polls, and the Real Clear Politics average shows that his approval rating has been under 50% since August 2021. 

According to Gallup, Biden is significantly losing support from key demographics, including young voters, Black voters and Hispanic voters.

Gallup explained that most of the decline in Black voters referring to themselves as Democrats has been in the last few years.

“Most of the decline has been recent, with the net-Democratic ID for this group falling 19 points from a 66-point advantage in 2020,” Gallup said. “At that time, 77% of Black adults favored the Democrats and 11% the Republicans, so the 2023 findings represent an 11-point decrease in Democratic affiliation since 2020 and an eight-point increase in Republican affiliation.”

Other mainstream news outlets have taken notice of the enthusiasm numbers, including the New York Times editorial board, which wrote earlier this month that Biden “needs to do more to show the public that he is fully capable of holding office until age 86.”

The Biden campaign previously pointed Fox News Digital to “several indicators of enthusiasm” they have seen in favor of the president.

“In the Nevada primary, we saw higher turnout than 2008 – despite that being a far more competitive election,” Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said. “The email from the First Lady after the Hur report was our best-performing email since the launch.”

President Biden signs an executive order with Vice President Kamala Harris on October 30, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Hitt also pointed to Biden winning “more votes in NH as a write in candidate than Obama did in ‘12” and highlighted that Obama was on the ballot, and Biden wasn’t.

“January was our best grassroots fundraising month ever, we doubled the number of small-dollar donors from December,” Hitt added. “We brought in over $1M in donations following President Biden’s speech marking the anniversary of the January 6th insurrection.”

Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

The Border Patrol union mocked President Biden on Saturday for his trip to the Texas border this week.

“Board AF1, take nap. Wake up in place called Brownsville,” the union wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in a joke itinerary of his day, along with a photo of Biden resting in a beach lounge chair. “Read large teleprompter message, ‘It’s all Trump’s fault.’ Board AF1, ask who people in green uniforms were, told they ‘strap’ illegal aliens, express horror, take nap. Wake up, call a lid, hit beach, take nap.”

While in Brownsville on Thursday, Biden lamented that the bipartisan immigration bill failed to pass in the Senate, blaming Trump for using it as a political issue. Many Republicans have expressed their opposition to the bill, which they say doesn’t do enough. 

“The majority of Democrats and Republicans in both houses support this legislation,” Biden said in Brownsville, “until someone came along and said don’t do that that’ll benefit the incumbent. That’s a hell of a way to do business in America for such a serious problem.”

WATCH: BORDER PATROL UNION CHIEF EXPLODES ON BIDEN IN FIERY PRESS CONFERENCE, SAYS AGENTS ‘P—-D’ AT POLICIES

President Biden made a border visit to Brownsville, Texas, Thursday.  (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

The president faces increasing scrutiny over his handling of the border as the Border Patrol continues to report a record number of migrant encounters. 

In December alone, there were more than 300,000 encounters – an all-time record. 

The issue also threatens to hurt Biden politically ahead of November’s presidential election. 

Trump was also at the border in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Thursday which he said is “being overrun by the Biden migrant crime,” invoking the murder of Georgia student Laken Riley allegedly by a Venezuelan migrant last week. 

BIDEN, TRUMP MAKE US-MEXICO BORDER STOPS THURSDAY AS MIGRANT CRISIS ROILS ELECTION 

“The parents are devastated and they’re incredible people,” Trump said. “This is a Joe Biden invasion. A Biden invasion. I call him crooked Joe… the most incompetent president we’ve ever had.” 

Biden and his administration have sought to shift the blame for the crisis onto the shoulders of Republicans. The administration says that it is working with a broken system that needs significantly more funding and comprehensive immigration reform. It introduced a bill on Biden’s first day in office that included a mass amnesty for millions of migrants already in the U.S., which was immediately rejected by Republicans.

Republicans in the House introduced and passed legislation of their own that would fund more Border Patrol agents, resume wall construction, restart the Remain-in-Mexico policy and severely limit the ability of migrants to claim asylum.

The Border Patrol union frequently mocks the president over illegal immigration. 

The organization wrote in part on X on Friday, “Wasn’t it Biden who encouraged people from all over the world to ‘surge the border’? Didn’t Biden immediately void all the successful Trump EO’s that were keeping our border under control? Didn’t he publicly and viciously accuse BP agents of criminal assault, then told the world ‘those people will pay’, and the entire thing was made up BS? Has he apologized or taken responsibility for any of it, or asked forgiveness from the victims of some of the millions of illegal aliens he imported into this country?”

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And before Biden went to the border, the group posted, “Attention President Biden: Keep our name out of your mouth today.”

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report. 

Former President Trump will win more delegates from Saturday’s Michigan Republican caucuses, after decisively winning the state’s primary earlier in the week.

Republicans gathered in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Saturday to hold a convention that eventually allocated the remaining 39 of the state’s 55 presidential delegates to Trump.

Trump was victorious in the Michigan primary earlier this week, beating Haley by 41 points and earning 12 delegates compared to Haley’s 4.

Michigan Republicans were forced to split their primary into two parts after Democrats who control the state government moved Michigan into the early primary states, violating the national Republican Party’s rules.

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Former President Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. (Getty Images)

Saturday’s convention comes just days after a Kent County judge affirmed that former Michigan GOP Chair Kristina Karamo was properly removed by party members in January. The decision officially hands the state party over to former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, whom the Republican National Committee recognized last month.

Republicans in Idaho and Missouri held caucuses on Saturday night that Trump is expected to easily win. 

WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL BOARD SAYS BIDEN SHOULD IGNORE LIBERAL ‘WISH LISTS,’ SECURE BORDER TO BEAT TRUMP

Former President Donald Trump speaks at the New York Young Republican Club Gala at Cipriani Wall Street on December 09, 2023 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Trump has scored convincing victories in each of the primary battles thus far and his team has suggested that he will secure the GOP nomination by the end of the month. But Haley has pledged that she is staying in the race until at least March 5, when 16 states hold Super Tuesday primaries, and over 800 delegates will be at stake.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report

Former President Donald Trump holds a six-point lead over President Biden among Hispanic voters, according to a new survey released Saturday.

The New York Times/Siena College poll, which was conducted from February 25 to 28 and included responses from 980 registered voters nationwide, asked respondents whom they would support in the 2024 presidential election if it were held today. 

Between candidates Biden and Trump, 46% of Hispanics who responded to the poll said they would vote for Trump, while 40% said they would support Biden. That’s a big difference from Biden’s 2020 general election support from Hispanics. Biden won 59% of the Hispanic vote to Trump’s 38% that year, according to Pew Research.

Among all respondents who took part in the survey New York Times/Siena poll, Trump also leads Biden, with 48% saying they would vote for him and 43% insisting they would vote for Biden.

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Among Hispanics, 46% who responded to the poll said they would vote for Trump, while 40% said they would support Biden. (Getty Images)

In a head-to-head matchup between Biden and GOP hopeful Nikki Haley, voters preferred Haley by 10 percentage points. Haley got 45% support among all voters, while Biden earned 35% support in the poll.

Haley was also well ahead of Biden among Hispanic voters: 43% of Latino voters in the poll said they would support the former U.N. ambassador, compared to just 31% who expressed support for Biden.

The newly released polling data falls in line with that of other recent surveys, many of which have shown Trump gaining support among Hispanics, and Biden losing support among the key voting bloc.

A USA Today/Suffolk University poll from late December showed Biden trailing Trump by five points among 1,000 likely voters in the Hispanic community.

Similarly, a Univision poll from late last year indicated that Trump is gaining ground among Hispanic voters with a 4% uptick in support among the key demographic from a January 2021 Univision poll.

Earlier this year, during an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” Monet Flores-Bacs, the strategic director at the New Mexico-based nonprofit LIBRE Initiative, said the “[conservative] message is really resonating with us.”

“Unfortunately, Biden’s policies for Hispanics, for most Democrats, it’s worked in the past, but we’re feeling it at the grocery store, we’re feeling it at the gas station. Even in just the last election, tax policy didn’t affect even myself and other young voters the way that they do this election, so we’re feeling it in our bank account at the grocery store. We’re going to vote based on that,” she continued.

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Echoing Flores-Bacs, Campus Reform correspondent Pedro Rodriguez previously told Fox News that the “answer lies within the pocketbooks” when it comes to support for certain candidates.

“Hispanics are entrepreneurs, and with Biden’s America right now, Hispanics are struggling to stay afloat, and Hispanic small businesses and the entrepreneurial spirit is dying,” he said. “Under Biden’s leadership, leftist policies have hurt young Americans. Financial insecurity is among the highest it’s ever been with young Hispanics.”

“Young Hispanics are going to flock behind the candidate they can support and champion working-class families, reduce inflation and pave the way for better economic and entrepreneurial opportunities here in the United States and not desecrate the American way of life,” he added.

The new polling data comes as Biden continues to grapple with the ongoing crisis at the southern border.

Nearly 7.3 million migrants have illegally crossed the southern border under Biden’s watch, a Fox News analysis revealed last month.

Hundreds of migrants, predominantly from Venezuela, cross the border between Mexico and the United States in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on December 5, 2023. (David Peinado/Anadolu via Getty Images)

That figure comes from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which has already reported 961,537 border encounters in the current fiscal year, which runs from October through September. If the current pace of illegal immigration does not slow down, fiscal year 2024 will break last year’s record of 2,475,669 southern border encounters — a number that by itself exceeds the entire population of New Mexico, a border state.

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The official total number of southern land border encounters since Biden assumed office in 2021 is 7,298,486, CBP data shows. That number is larger than the populations of 36 U.S. states.

Both Trump and Biden made dueling visits to the southern border earlier this week.

Former President Trump is leading President Biden in a new poll from the New York Times/Sienna College released Saturday, with voters saying they have little confidence in Biden’s leadership.

The survey found that 43% of respondents said they would vote for Biden if the election were held today, while 48% said they would vote for Trump. The poll further found that 47% of respondents “strongly disapprove” of Biden’s handling of the presidency, in addition to 14% who said they “somewhat disapprove.”

Just 17% stated that they “strongly approve” of Biden’s handling of the job.

NYT and Sienna conducted the poll from Feb. 25-28, surveying 980 registered voters across the country. The poll was conducted in both English and Spanish using cellphones and landline telephones. It advertised a margin of error of 4%.

POLLS SHOW BIDEN FACING ‘ENTHUSIASM GAP’ HEADING INTO 2024 ELECTION SEASON

Former President Trump is leading President Biden in a new poll from the New York Times/Sienna College released Saturday, with voters saying they have little confidence in Biden’s leadership. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

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The poll further found that just one in four voters believe the country is headed in the right direction. And the number of Americans who believe Biden’s policies have hurt them is double the number who believe they have helped, according to the Times.

With regard to the border, 50% of respondents said they would support restricting migrants’ ability to apply for asylum, while just 43% said they would oppose the move.

The NYT poll found that 43% of respondents said they would vote for Biden if the election were held today, while 48% said they would vote for Trump. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The numbers were even worse for Biden when it comes to the economy, with 74% of Americans saying it is “poor” or “only fair,” compared to 26% who said the economy is doing “good” or “excellent.”

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The survey was not all good news for Trump, however, as 53% of respondents said they believe he has committed “serious federal crimes.”

Biden is polling poorly with Americans on his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci  |  Photo by David Peinado/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether Trump can be removed from state ballots over allegations that he engaged in “insurrection” with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

He also faces several indictments relating to the 2020 election and other alleged crimes.

Donald Trump will win the Missouri Republican caucuses, the Associated Press projects, delivering yet another victory for the former president against former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

The Associated Press called the race for Trump early Saturday afternoon. The former president was expected to cruise to victory after big wins in every contest prior to Saturday.

After her loss in her home state of South Carolina, Haley vowed to remain in the race at least through Super Tuesday on March 5, where voters in 15 states will head to the polls to make their choice for president.

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Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)

Even though Trump is the clear winner of the state, Missouri awards 51 of its 54 delegates through a months-long process called a “caucus-convention system” that only begins with Saturday’s caucusing. 

The system dictates that 11 delegates will be awarded to candidates at the state level and five will be awarded from each of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. The three remaining delegates are the chairman of the Missouri Republican Party, and its national committeeman and committeewoman, who can support any candidate they wish, regardless of the caucus results.

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Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks at a rally during the District of Columbia’s Republican presidential primary at the Madison Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Friday, March 1, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

A candidate that wins the support of more than 50% of the vote at a particular caucus site wins all the delegates at stake at that caucus. The delegates are awarded proportionately if no candidate clears the 50% threshold.

Democrats will hold their primary in Missouri on March 23.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

After the Federal Election Commission declined to act against Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign for the laptop-denying statement by 51 former intelligence officials, a conservative watchdog group is trying to force action. 

America First Legal sued the FEC in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to force the agency that polices campaign donations and spending to act.

“The FEC decided we’re not going to act on this. So, what the district court will do, our hope, is that it will order the FEC to investigate and take this seriously,” Daniel Epstein, vice president of America First Legal, told Fox News Digital.  

In October, the group filed an FEC complaint against the Biden for President campaign from 2020, the Biden Victory Fund, the Biden Action Fund and the Democratic National Committee for failing to report indirect contributions from the later-debunked statement by the 51 officials released on October 19, 2020, just weeks before the November 8 election, and just days before a presidential debate. 

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The statement claimed without evidence that the Hunter Biden laptop was likely part of a “Russian disinformation” campaign. 

Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, departs a House Oversight Committee meeting on Capitol Hill on January 10, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

If the FEC doesn’t act, it is “effectively encouraging disinformation to the public that may influence the election,” Epstein continued. 

An FEC spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the agency doesn’t comment on litigation. Neither the 2024 Biden presidential campaign nor the DNC responded to inquiries for this story. 

The FEC has 60 days to respond to the lawsuit. Epstein anticipates the agency will file a motion to remand the matter back to the FEC for investigation. 

In March 2023, former Obama administration CIA Deputy and Acting Director Michael Morrell testified to the House Judiciary and House Intelligence Committees that on October 17, 2020, then-Biden campaign staffer Antony Blinken, now the secretary of state, contacted him to discuss drafting a statement to attack the Hunter Biden laptop story first reported by the New York Post.  Morrell circulated the statement among other anti-Trump former intelligence officials. The 51 former officials who signed on included Leon Panetta, John Brennan and James Clapper from the Barack Obama administration, as well as Michael Hayden from the George W. Bush administration — all vocal critics of Trump.

Eventually, both the New York Times and Washington Post verified the authenticity of the Hunter Biden laptop. 

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“Because Morrell, Brennan, Clapper, and the other signatories were supposedly ‘nonpartisan’ national security and intelligence experts, their public statement was a campaign contribution of substantial value to the respondents, who solicited the ‘Letter of 51’ from them for the express purpose of influencing the 2020 presidential election,” the AFL lawsuit says. “Yet, the respondents failed to report the contribution and to identify the individuals who made it.”

President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at Pearson Community Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sunday, February 4, 2024.  (Ian Maule/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The lawsuit — like the original FEC complaint — quotes an email at the time among the intelligence experts, saying, “[W]e think Trump will attack Biden on the issue at this week’s debate and we want to offer perspectives on this from Russia watchers and other seasoned experts.” Another said they wanted to give Biden “a talking point to use in response” if Trump brings up the laptop. 

In an October 22, 2020 presidential debate, Biden referred to the 51 intelligence officials’ letter during a presidential debate. The lawsuit also notes that it was used for an immense amount of media coverage. 

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The Biden campaign resources were used to solicit the letter, and the coordination that produced the letter became something of significant value to the Biden campaign. Failure to report something of value violates the Federal Election Campaign Act that the FEC is required to enforce, the lawsuit says. 

“The proper administration of the act includes ensuring that all disclosure reports are correctly and timely filed with the commission,” the complaint to the D.C. District Court says. 

Under the Federal Election Campaign Act, if the FEC fails to act on a complaint within 120 days, a complainant can take the case to court. A court could determine that failure to act is contrary to the law and direct the commission to conform to the law within 30 days. 

The lawsuit references a survey that found almost four of five Americans who followed the Hunter Biden laptop scandal thought that honest news coverage would have changed the outcome of the election. The survey by Technometric Institute of Policy and Politics was released in August 2022.  

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“If you firmly believed that this [the laptop story] was disinformation, and you wanted to tell the truth to the public, and this wasn’t about an attempt to defraud the public in order to influence the election, why were you so secretive about this?” Epstein told Fox News Digital. “Why not say, ‘Maybe this is a campaign coordination, and we should report it,’ and say with a straight face, ‘Out of an abundance of caution, we reported this to the FEC’?”

Etsy, the online retailer known for providing a platform to sell hand-made and vintage products, continues to host sellers of “deepfake” pornographic images of celebrities and random women despite the company’s efforts to clean up the site.

The proliferation of sexually explicit images generated by artificial intelligence (AI) — including depictions of celebrities — on an otherwise innocuous marketplace comes as a shock to many experts. The problem has persisted on the platform for months. 

“That sounds like a total innocuous platform for people to do this. Usually we find a lot of explicit content on Twitter, or some other particular portals for that kind of materials,” Siwei Lyu, a computer scientist and expert on machine learning and the detection of deepfakes, told Fox News Digital. “But polluting the space on such a platform [like Etsy] is quite hard to believe.”

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In this photo illustration, the Etsy logo is displayed on a smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The explicit content isn’t hidden, either. Fox News Digital found that a simple search of “ai nude” or “deepfake porn” on Etsy each yielded 1,000+ results, while a search for “porn” turned back zero results. Even without a narrowed search, some explicit-AI generated items appeared in the “You may also like” algorithm while searching for other unrelated items. 

While not all the results showed pornographic content, many of the nude images are of entirely fabricated women created by AI. One shop even sells an e-book guide on how to create X-rated AI content. 

Ninety-five photos of Margot Robbie were also being sold for $10.95 by a shop with the description “Margot Robbie Nude Photorealistic AI Celebrity Nude Art – | NSFW Ai Girl | AI Girl | Celebrity Nude” as of Thursday. 

Several of the display photos were actual images of the “Wolf of Wall Street” actress, while others were fully nude AI-generated photos of her. One of the AI-generated photos of Margot Robbie depicted the actress in a sexual act. Robbie’s team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

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Grande (Photo by David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

Another block of AI photos for sale were labeled “Ariana Grande Photorealistic AI Nude Art – Seductive and Sensual Digital Artwork | NSFW Ai Girl | AI Girl | Cosplay.” The stack of preview photos featured suggestive photos of the singer, but none showing her in the nude. Fox News Digital also reached out to Grande’s team. 

After Fox News Digital requested comment from Etsy, the listings were removed for violating policies. But some of the photos had already been bought and downloaded. 

“AI, especially generative AI technologies, these days are powerful enough to create very realistic images, and a lot of people fall for that, because they do not understand this,” Lyu said. 

Lyu explained that generative AI, a deep learning concept in AI software that allows the system to learn and develop over time to improve its results, makes it “technically challenging” to identify fake images. 

And now that this software has become widespread for personal use, it makes it more difficult for laws to catch up to potentially nefarious activity, such as the creation of celebrity deepfakes or AI-illustrated pornography. Lyu said the current laws “lag behind” the rapid development of AI. 

Blake Klinkner, an assistant law professor at the University of North Dakota teaching cybersecurity law, has been studying the emerging intersection of law and AI. He said the First Amendment covers a host of creative liberties, and federal laws haven’t yet weeded out potentially criminal AI-generated images.

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Taylor Swift attends the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 4, 2024, in Los Angeles, California.   (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

“It’s very accessible for individuals to take really any image or video or audio and run it through a software program to create a deepfake,” Klinkner told Fox News Digital.  

He added that photos of celebrities are run through AI software “which learns how to map the person’s face, or even videos, and then create these obscene, pornographic images.”

“So you’re seeing these images sold on Etsy online, and a relatively simple search can, unfortunately, lead to a lot of results of individuals selling these images,” Klinkner said. “And again, because AI is relatively affordably accessible these days, there’s not a whole lot stopping individuals from making these images and even trying to sell them.”

Klinkner added that when these cases are brought forth, judges are often unfamiliar with deepfakes and are hesitant to apply old laws to a fairly modern problem.

“They can’t really wrap their heads around a computer taking an image and creating images that look like you that really aren’t you,” he said.

Users who create such images are hard to track down, too, as many use aliases and fake photos on their profiles. Klinkner said it creates “a Whack-A-Mole situation” where if one account gets taken down, a new account can just be made.

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Thousands of results on Etsy show AI-illustrated porn.  (Bloomberg / Contributor)

In December, Etsy swept some of its marketplace after a Forbes report exposed 16 accounts that were selling explicit celebrity deepfakes. Two of the celebrity victims were actresses Olivia Munn and Jenna Ortega. Etsy removed the accounts. 

“We are deeply committed to the safety of our marketplace and community. While some mature content is allowed on Etsy, we have long prohibited pornography and we closely monitor our marketplace to identify and remove content that violates our policies,” Alice Wu, head of trust and safety at Etsy told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Evolving our policies and expanding our enforcement efforts related to mature content — including in emerging areas like AI deepfakes — is a key priority for Etsy this year.”

But thousands of pornographic images — accessible on the website by anyone regardless of age — remain easily available on the platform. 

According to Etsy’s rules, pornography “of any sort” is prohibited, while “mature content is restricted.” The company claims that it takes a “liberal approach” to what constitutes pornography. Etsy allows some nude images for artistic purposes. 

“Although pornography can be difficult to define, an item generally qualifies as pornography when it contains printed or visual material that explicitly describes or displays sex acts, sex organs, or other erotic behavior for the purpose of sexual arousal or stimulation,” the rules state.

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“Barbie” star Margot Robbie arrives at the 96th Academy Awards Oscar nominees luncheon on February 12, 2024, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.  (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Last month, singer Taylor Swift made headlines when deepfake images of her made their rounds on social media. A few days later, Congress introduced legislation to crack down on the creation of such images that appear identical to actual celebrities. 

The No AI FRAUD Act, introduced by Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., last month, would issue penalties for users who create generative AI images to harm individuals, whether they are public figures or not.

Only a few states have laws on the books penalizing nonconsensual deepfake porn: Georgia, Hawaii, Texas and Virginia. In California and Illinois, victims can sue perpetrators who create explicit images in their likeness. 

Andrew W. Torrance, a distinguished professor at the University of Kansas Law School, told Fox News Digital in an interview that while there is protection under the First Amendment for creating images or videos of others, particularly public figures, there are limitations. Parody is protected, but if the depiction is too realistic, it may infringe upon rights such as privacy or the right of publicity, especially for celebrities, or amount to libel or fraud.

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“A celebrity such as Margot Robbie, in California . . . and some other states, has special rights to her public image, because she’s a celebrity,” Torrance told Fox News Digital. “And when you meddle with that public image, when you start to make her look the way that she doesn’t want to look or sound, or espouse opinions that she doesn’t actually have, you can start to infringe on this right of publicity, and she might have a right to sue to prevent you from doing that and to take it down.”

“I think this is why things are coming to a head — because we’ve reached a point where it truly is difficult to tell between the generated and the real, and the amount of damage that is possible by fooling a large number of people is tremendous,” he said.