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Some county election boards in Ohio are remaining open late Tuesday, the final day to register for the March 19 primary. Early voting begins Wednesday.

Ohioans are choosing party nominees for president, U.S. Senate, state Legislature, Ohio Supreme Court and other seats.

GOP SENATE CANDIDATE IN BATTLEGROUND STATE RAILS AGAINST VULNERABLE DEM INCUMBENT: ‘OUT OF TOUCH’

The high-stakes three-way Republican Senate primary features Trump-endorsed Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno, Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan.

Through campaign stops, an expensive ad war and televised debates, they are fighting for the chance to take on third-term incumbent U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, considered among the nation’s most vulnerable Democrats.

Early voting begins Wednesday, with many county election boards across the Buckeye State remaining open late into Tuesday evening to register voters.

Across the state, voters will also be deciding 41 partisan contests for Ohio House and six for Ohio Senate.

In pivotal elections for control of the Ohio Supreme Court — which holds immense sway over the future of Ohio abortion law — Democrats are defending two sitting justices after first deciding a primary for a third court seat that is open. 10th District Court of Appeals Judge Terri Jamison faces 8th District Court of Appeals Judge Lisa Forbes in that faceoff. The winner takes on Republican Dan Hawkins, a judge on the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, this fall.

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Meanwhile, five Republican presidential contenders will be listed on Ohio ballots, though only two — former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — remained in the race as of Tuesday.

Former President Obama disagreed with then-Vice President Biden that Russia should “pay in blood and money” after it invaded Crimea in 2014, according to a new book.

An excerpt from “The Internationalists: The Fight to Restore Foreign Policy After Trump” by Politico’s Alexander Ward revealed a disagreement that took place behind closed doors between Obama and Biden when Russian forces invaded Crimea and later annexed the peninsula, making it a part of Russia.

“The Obama administration did little in response except to provide Ukraine with defensive weapons, sanction the Kremlin, and kick Russia out of the Group of Eight, turning the G8 into the G7,” writes Ward. “The United States might have done more had Barack Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden, been in charge. Russia should ‘pay in blood and money’ for its actions, Biden told his boss as the 2014 invasion began. Obama disagreed, but he made Biden his effective ambassador to Ukraine during the crisis.”

BIDEN PRIVATELY DEFIANT THAT HE DIDN’T BOTCH AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL: BOOK

Former President Obama and President Biden (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Later, Obama told Biden not to “overpromise anything” to Ukraine, the book states. But the chasm between the two continued to widen as Biden continued to foster his alliance by further pledging his support for the Eastern European nation.

As vice president, he traveled to Ukraine six times, with five visits occurring after the 2014 Maidan protests, the book notes. In Kyiv, alongside then-President Petro Poroshenko, Biden backed Ukraine’s quest for independence from Russia just three days before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017.

“Ukraine, like every country in Europe, has a right to determine its own path. Yet Russia seeks to deny that choice. And the international community must continue to stand as one against Russian aggression and coercion,” Biden said. “It’s no secret that Russia does not want you to succeed. It’s not just about Ukraine. It’s about the future we have long sought of a Europe whole, free, and at peace — whole, free, and at peace — something that is in the vital national interest of both the United States and all Europeans.”

BIDEN PRIVATELY DEFIANT THAT HE DIDN’T BOTCH AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL: BOOK

In a 2014 interview with The Atlantic, Obama said he saw no benefit in the U.S. getting involved in the unfolding events in Europe related to Russia and Ukraine.

“The fact is that Ukraine, which is a non-NATO country, is going to be vulnerable to military domination by Russia no matter what we do,” Obama said. “This is an example of where we have to be very clear about what our core interests are and what we are willing to go to war for.”

Between 2014 and Dec. 27, 2023, the U.S. sent more than $47 billion in security aid to Ukraine to counter Russian aggression and improve NATO ties. The Biden administration has contributed about $44.2 billion since February 2022, according to a recent congressional report.  

RUSSIA ARRESTS DUAL US-RUSSIAN CITIZEN FOR ALLEGEDLY TRYING TO RAISE FUNDS FOR UKRAINE’S MILITARY: REPORT

Biden has been urging Congress to pass a supplemental funding package to continue assisting Ukraine since last October.

President Biden meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Sept. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci/File)

Last week, the Senate passed a $95 billion national security supplemental package to assist Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific after a tedious procedural process. The package includes $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza and nearly $5 billion for the Indo-Pacific.

CANADA SENDING MORE THAN 800 DRONES TO UKRAINE TO SUPPORT ITS FIGHT AGAINST RUSSIA 

A boy sits in a window of a destroyed building in Irpin, Ukraine, on May 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

“I applaud the bipartisan coalition of Senators who came together to advance this agreement, and I urge the House to move on this with urgency. We cannot afford to wait any longer,” Biden said in a statement about the bill. “The costs of inaction are rising every day, especially in Ukraine. Already, we are seeing reports of Ukrainian troops running out of ammunition on the front lines as Russian forces continue to attack and Putin continues to dream of subjugating the Ukrainian people.”

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“There are those who say American leadership and our alliances and partnerships with countries around the world do not matter. They do. If we do not stand against tyrants who seek to conquer or carve up their neighbors’ territory, the consequences for America’s national security will be significant.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson marked President’s Day by meeting with former President Trump about the 2024 election cycle at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, Fox News Digital has learned.

It comes as Trump’s last major primary opponent, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, announced Tuesday that she was staying in the race despite losing every contest to Trump so far.

“Speaker Johnson met with President Trump in Florida on Monday to discuss growing the majority and securing Republican victories up and down the ballot in November,” Johnson campaign spokesman Greg Steele told Fox News Digital.

TRUMP BLASTS ‘CLUBHOUSE POLITICIAN’ JUDGE AFTER BEING FINED $350M, DEFENDS THE ‘GREAT COMPANY’ HE BUILT

House Speaker Mike Johnson made a show of solidarity with former President Trump on Monday, a day before former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley announced she would not drop out of the 2024 race. (Getty Images)

Attending the meeting with Johnson was Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House GOP’s campaign arm. They were in Florida for the House GOP leadership’s annual retreat.

The NRCC did not respond to a request for the group’s own readout of the meeting. A Trump spokesperson also did not respond to a request for comment.

House Republican leaders have made an unprecedented show of unity around Trump as he seeks the GOP nomination for president. Johnson released a video earlier this month calling on fellow Republicans to coalesce around Trump.

TRUMP HOLDS LARGE DOUBLE-DIGIT LEAD OVER HALEY AHEAD OF CRUCIAL SHOWDOWN

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s campaign shared this image with Fox News Digital after he met with former President Trump at Mar-a-Lago. (Fox News)

“Following victories in Iowa, New Hampshire, the US Virgin Islands, and Nevada, it is time for Republicans to unite behind President Trump, so we can focus on ending the disastrous Biden presidency and growing our majority in Congress,” he said in the short clip.

“I am convinced he’s going to be the next president of the United States, and I am very much looking forward to that happening.”

Johnson endorsed Trump for president in November last year, days after he won the speaker’s gavel. Hudson endorsed him in November 2022.

In addition to being a call for unity, the speaker’s video also appears to be a veiled shot at Haley for staying in the race.

LAST RIVAL STANDING: HALEY FACES BIG CHALLENGE IN HER HOME STATE AGAINST TRUMP

Rep. Richard Hudson, chair of House Republicans’ campaign arm, also met with former President Trump on Monday. (Getty Images)

The former South Carolina governor and Trump administration official was defiant during a speech in Greenville, South Carolina, on Tuesday, days before her home state’s primary election.

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“Some of you, perhaps a few of you here in the media, came here today to see if I’m dropping out of the race. Well, I’m not – far from it,” Haley said. “I’m running for president because we have a country to save.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Haley’s campaign for comment on Trump’s meeting with Johnson and Hudson but did not immediately hear back.

A federal appeals court must decide if Pennsylvania voters need to put accurate handwritten dates on the outside envelopes of their mail-in ballots for the votes to count, a dispute with implications for this year’s presidential contest.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held oral arguments in Philadelphia Tuesday over a district judge’s ruling in November that even without the proper dates, mail-in ballots should be counted if they are received in time.

Ari Savitzky, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union representing several voter groups, told the court that more than 10,000 ballots in Pennsylvania were disqualified in 2022 based on what he called “a meaningless paperwork error.” He argued that the “materiality provision” of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was designed to prevent that.

PENNSYLVANIA JUDGE CHARGED WITH SHOOTING SLEEPING EX-BOYFRIEND AND ASKING ‘WHAT DID YOU DO?’

“An immaterial mistake on a piece of paperwork doesn’t go to the deficiency or validity of the ballot itself,” he argued before the three-judge panel.

U.S. Circuit Judge Cindy K. Chung, who was appointed to the bench by President Joe Biden, asked where judges should draw the line between meaningless and material errors that can render the ballots invalid.

“Is there a difference between non-compliance — where you totally leave off the date — and imperfect compliance, where you have the date but you got the year wrong?” she asked.

Lawyer John M. Gore, representing state and national Republican groups challenging a district court ruling last year, said “the right to vote is not denied” when the state qualifies someone to vote, sends them a ballot and then rejects the ballot “because they failed to follow Pennsylvania law.”

Allegheny County workers scan mail-in and absentee ballots at the Allegheny County Election Division Elections warehouse in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022. A federal appeals court must decide if Pennsylvania voters who put the wrong date on the envelope containing their mail-in ballots should have their votes thrown out. The case argued Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, in Philadelphia could be significant in this year’s presidential contest. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

In Pennsylvania, Democrats have been far more likely to vote by mail than Republicans under an expansion of mail-in ballots enacted in 2019. Republican lawmakers agreed to the change in exchange for an end to “straight-party voting” that they saw as a longtime Democratic advantage. In 2022, about 1.2 million Pennsylvanians voted by mail.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the consequences of the expanded mail-in ballot rules became more pronounced, and the partisan vote-by-mail gap was widened by President Donald Trump’s opposition to mail-in ballots during his failed 2020 reelection campaign.

U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter, a Trump appointee, ruled last year that county boards of election may no longer reject mail ballots that lack accurate, handwritten dates on their return envelopes. She said the date — mandated by state law — is irrelevant in helping elections officials decide whether the ballot was received in time or whether the voter is qualified to cast a ballot.

The Pennsylvania groups challenging the date mandate argue it allows the state to disenfranchise voter over meaningless mistakes, violating provisions of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964. The suit was filed by state chapters of the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, the Black Political Empowerment Project and other groups.

Baxter said elections officials do not use the date on the outer envelope to determine whether the vote should be counted.

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“The important date for casting the ballot is the date the ballot is received. Here, the date on the outside envelope was not used by any of the county boards to determine when a voter’s mail ballot was received in the November 2022 election,” Baxter wrote.

FIRST ON FOX: A top House Republican has tossed his support behind a former NASCAR driver-turned-GOP congressional candidate in Maine.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., endorsed GOP congressional candidate Austin Theriault on Tuesday amid his quest to flip the seat held by Democratic Maine Rep. Jared Golden from blue to red, Fox News Digital has learned.

In a statement obtained by Fox, Scalise said he was “thrilled” that Theriault was making a run for Congress.

“Thrilled to have Austin Theriault, a strong conservative from a French-Catholic family in northern Maine, running to represent Maine’s 2nd District,” Scalise said. “We badly need more conservative fighters who understand rural America in Congress, and Austin fits the bill perfectly. That’s why he has my complete and total endorsement.”

SPEAKER JOHNSON ENDORSES FORMER NASCAR DRIVER FOR MAINE DEMOCRAT’S CONGRESSIONAL SEAT

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., left, endorsed GOP congressional candidate Austin Theriault, right, on Tuesday amid his quest to flip the seat held by Democratic Maine Rep. Jared Golden from blue to red. (Getty Images)

Offering his appreciation for Scalise’s support, Theriault, who currently serves as a state representative in Maine, insisted that the Republican leader has displayed immense “courage and perseverance.”

“Leader Scalise has demonstrated incredible courage and perseverance, as well as dedication to conservative values,” he said. “His recovery from being shot by a deranged leftist and his fight against cancer are inspiring testaments to his fortitude, and I appreciate his support.”

Theriault added, “Rural America is being hurt by Joe Biden and Jared Golden’s border and inflationary spending policies, and I’m running to fight back.”

Scalise’s endorsement comes as Theriault seeks the seat held by Golden in a race that is expected to be one of the most competitive House races this cycle.

Theriault announced his campaign last September, saying he would “come in with fire” to Congress to confront issues like inflation, illegal border crossings and dying small towns.

Austin Theriault appears at the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup series race, Richmond, Virginia, Sept. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

“Regular hardworking folks are getting held down by out-of-touch, out-of-state elites who are clueless about how hard it is to make a living in Maine,” he said at the time.

KELLYANNE CONWAY WARNS GOP ‘BETTER LEARN’ SOME LESSONS AFTER DEMOCRATS FLIPPED NY HOUSE SEAT

Theriault has been vocal in his campaign on issues facing America, including speaking out against “pro-Hamas” protesters as well as the effort to remove former President Trump from the primary ballot in Maine.

Scalise is not the only leading House Republican to endorse Theriault’s candidacy. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., endorsed Theriault last month, referring to the former NASCAR driver as “a hardworking public servant with a strong track record of success.”

Additionally, House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., threw her support behind Theriault in December.

Theriault, who has also been endorsed by numerous local and state leaders in Maine, recently announced that he has raised $500,000 since he launched his campaign.

Austin Theriault sits in his car during practice for the NASCAR XFINITY Series U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway on July 29, 2016 in Newton, Iowa.

Last Friday, Theriault’s campaign launched a district-wide radio buy touting his “pro-Trump” candidacy in the race.

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“Theriault’s not a politician, he’s a former NASCAR driver born in Aroostook County and raised on county values of hard work and grit,” the ad stated. “Theriault’s had it with Joe Biden and the radical left treating criminal illegals better than hardworking Mainers.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

• The Wisconsin Legislature, in its final session, addressed various issues through voting, including a substantial tax cut and out-of-state hunting fees.
• The Assembly voted on a constitutional amendment to limit the governor’s veto powers, a measure needing statewide voter approval.
• Other tax measures include increasing credits for married couples and retirees’ income exemptions.

The Wisconsin Legislature was racing to finish its work for the session by voting Tuesday on everything from a massive tax cut to raising out-of-state hunting fees.

The Assembly was also voting for the first time on a constitutional amendment that would curb the veto powers of Wisconsin’s governor, which are the broadest in the country. That proposal would ultimately need to be approved by voters statewide. The Senate was also expected to vote to reject one of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ appointees to the Department of Natural Resources policy board.

The moves come as the Assembly was planning to finish its work for the session on Thursday, with the Senate wrapping up next month. Lawmakers will then quickly turn to campaigning for the fall election under new maps Evers signed into law on Monday.

WISCONSIN GOV. EVERS SIGNS NEW LEGISLATIVE MAPS INTO LAW AFTER REPUBLICANS PASS THEM

The Senate was slated to give final approval to a package of bills that would cut taxes about $2 billion in the first year and $1.4 billion every year after that. Evers has not said whether he will sign the package, or veto it like he has other similar Republican-backed tax cut proposals.

Wisconsin Republicans who control the state Legislature held a hearing on election-related proposals in the state Capitol on Oct. 24, 2023, in Madison, Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Legislature completed its work for the session by voting on Feb. 20, 2024, on everything from a massive tax cut to raising out-of-state hunting fees. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer, File)

The centerpiece of the package is a measure that would expand the state’s second income tax bracket so more income would be subject to a lower rate.

Currently, the second bracket covers individuals earning between $14,320 to $28,640 and married couples making between $19,090 to $38,190. Under the bill, earnings up to $112,500 for individuals and $150,000 for married couples would be subject to the 4.4% rate, down from 5.3% now.

Other measures would increase the income tax credit for married couples, expand the state’s child care tax credit and increase the amount of retirees’ income exempt from the state income tax.

The Senate was expected to reject the appointment of Todd Ambs to the state’s Natural Resources Board. Ambs was the only one of four Evers appointees rejected by a GOP-controlled Senate committee following a tense public hearing last year. All four appointees were forwarded by Evers after the Senate in September rejected four DNR board appointees.

Ambs served as deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources before retiring in December 2021.

Ambs was questioned by GOP lawmakers at a December hearing about his online criticism of the Republican Party. Ambs said at that hearing that he would make “no apologies” for speaking out against former President Donald Trump.

LAWMAKERS ADVANCE BILL REQUIRING UNIVERSITIES OF WISCONSIN TO ADMIT ALL TOP-PERFORMING HIGH SCHOOLERS

The state Assembly was set to approve a bill that would raise bow and crossbow license fees for out-of-state deer hunters for the second time in less than a year in an attempt to shrink a gaping deficit in the state’s wildlife management account.

The Republican-authored proposal would raise out-of-state fees for bow and crossbow licenses from $165 to $200, the current cost of a nonresident gun deer license. The $35 increase is projected to generate an additional $409,000 for the account annually, according to DNR estimates.

The move comes as the state Department of Natural Resources looks for ways to shore up its fish and wildlife account. The fund covers a wide host of projects ranging from fish stocking and habitat restoration to paying farmers’ wolf depredation claims. The account was built with revenue from hunting and fishing license sales, timber sales and tribal gaming payments.

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Donald Trump’s campaign predicts that the former president will lock up the 2024 Republican presidential nomination by the middle of next month. 

And pointing to the former president’s very large double-digit lead over Nikki Haley in the latest polls in Saturday’s South Carolina GOP primary, Trump’s campaign argued Tuesday in a memo that Haley’s White House bid will end “fittingly, in her home state.”

But Haley, the former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration, doesn’t sound like a candidate ready to drop out of the race.

TRUMP HOLDS LARGE DOUBLE-DIGIT LEAD OVER HALEY AHEAD OF CRUCIAL SHOWDOWN

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, a former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador, speaks at a rally in Camden, S.C. on Feb. 19, 2024 (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

“I promise you this, I am in this fight. I will take the bruises. I will take the cuts,” she told supporters at a large rally in this city in upstate South Carolina on Monday night. “This is going to be messy and I’ll take the hurt because I believe nothing good comes easy. Sometimes we have to feel pain to appreciate the blessing.”

LAST RIVAL STANDING: HALEY FACES BIG CHALLENGE IN HER HOME STATE AGAINST TRUMP

The Trump campaign memo forecasts an “a—kicking in the making in South Carolina” for Haley, and that “the end is near” for her presidential run due to “a very serious math problem” she has in the race to lock up enough delegates to win the GOP nomination.

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump arrives on stage during a Get Out The Vote rally at Coastal Carolina University on February 10, 2024 in Conway, South Carolina. South Carolina holds its Republican primary on February 24.  (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Looking ahead to next month, when nearly 800 delegates are up for grabs on Super Tuesday. Fifteen states hold Republican presidential contests on March 5, with over 150 at stake over the following two weeks, the Trump campaign predicted the former president would secure the nomination on March 19, even under a “most-generous model” for Haley.

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

Trump’s campaign memo came out hours before Trump returns to South Carolina on Tuesday to headline a Fox News town hall in Greenville hosted by Laura Ingraham. The pre-taped one-hour event, which will focus on both domestic issues and overseas conflicts, will air at 7 p.m. ET.

And Haley will deliver what her campaign describes as a “state of the race” speech in Greenville earlier in the day.

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

GREENVILLE, S.C. – With the clock ticking toward Saturday’s Republican presidential primary in South Carolina, a new poll indicates that former President Trump maintains a large double-digit lead over Nikki Haley, his last remaining major rival in the race for the GOP nomination.

Trump, the commanding frontrunner for the Republican nomination as he makes his third straight bid for the White House, stands at 63% support among those likely to vote in Saturday’s Republican presidential primary, according to a Suffolk University/USA Today survey released on Tuesday.

Haley, a former two-term Palmetto State governor who later served as ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, stands at 35% in the poll, which was conducted Feb. 15-18. The survey is the latest this month to suggest Haley faces a steep uphill climb in her home state.

Getting past the top lines, the poll also indicates Trump with a massive 72% to 25% lead among Republicans questioned, with Haley holding a narrow 53%-46% advantage among independents.

LAST RIVAL STANDING: HALEY FACES BIG CHALLENGE IN HER HOME STATE AGAINST TRUMP

Republican presidential candidate former President Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Charleston Area Convention Center in North Charleston, South Carolina, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/David Yeazell)

While South Carolina’s GOP primary is open to all voters as long as they have not already cast a ballot in the Feb. 3 Democratic presidential primary, nearly two-thirds of those sampled by the poll indicated they were Republicans, with only 28% identifying as independents.

Independents helped fuel Haley’s 43% finish in last month’s New Hampshire GOP presidential primary, 11 points behind Trump.

HALEY SPOTLIGHTS TRUMP CHAOS’ AS JUDGE SETS FORMER PRESIDENT’S HUSH MONEY TRIAL DATE

Haley started turning up the volume on Trump last month, when she became the final rival standing against the former president in the GOP nomination race. Additionally, Haley has been sharpening those attacks in recent days.

Pointing to Trump’s controversial comments a week ago that he would not stand in the way of Moscow if Russian leader Vladimir Putin attacked a NATO member country that failed to pay its full share of dues, Haley at rallies Monday in Greenville and Camden once again charged that her rival “gets unhinged when he goes off the teleprompter.”

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, a former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador, speaks at a rally in Camden, South Carolina, on Feb. 19, 2024. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Haley also savaged Trump over the death of high-profile Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, which much of the world assumes was ordered by Putin.

“I don’t know why he keeps getting weak in the knees when it comes to Russia. But l tell you what, Russia’s not getting weak in the knees,” Haley argued.

A day earlier, during a Fox News town hall in South Carolina hosted by John Roberts, Haley spotlighted the former president’s silence on Navalny’s death, saying “Donald Trump needs to answer whether he thinks Putin is responsible for Navalny.”

HALEY SPOTLIGHTS TRUMP CHAOS’ AS JUDGE SETS FORMER PRESIDENT’S HUSH MONEY TRIAL DATE

On “Fox and Friends” on Monday morning, Haley argued that Trump was too distracted by his legal difficulties and multiple trials and cases, saying “Trump’s doing late-night rants about his court cases. He’s going to be in court for the rest of the year. We can’t be distracted.”

Haley also continues to hammer Trump over his recent comments mocking the absence on the campaign trail of her husband Michael – who is on a military deployment overseas. She is using those remarks by the former president to highlight what she argues is his long history of disparaging military members.

However, Suffolk University political research director David Paleologos spotlighted that the new poll indicated “Trump was winning by a wider margin among South Carolina military households than among non-military households, despite his questioning of the presence of Haley’s husband.”

“Within the subset of the Republican Primary electorate, nothing sticks to Trump,” Paleologos said.

Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump arrives on stage during a Get Out The Vote rally at Coastal Carolina University on Feb. 10, 2024, in Conway, South Carolina. South Carolina holds its Republican primary on Feb. 24. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Trump grabbed a majority of the votes last month in Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary victories, and won by a landslide two weeks ago in the Nevada and U.S. Virgin Island caucuses, as he moved toward locking up the nomination.

While South Carolina is home for Haley, the former president enjoys the backing of the state’s governor, nearly the entire congressional delegation and scores of state lawmakers and local officials.

“She’s getting clobbered,” Trump emphasized last week at a rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, as he touted his formidable lead over Haley. “She’s finished.”

Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Fox News “Nikki Haley can’t name a single state she can win, and she is five days away from getting crushed in her own backyard, so it’s no surprise that her embarrassing daily temper tantrums over President Trump are getting more and more desperate.”

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Trump returns to South Carolina on Tuesday to headline a Fox News town hall in Greenville hosted by Laura Ingraham. The pre-taped one-hour event, which will focus on both domestic issues and overseas conflicts, will air at 7 p.m. ET.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, a former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador, takes aim at former President Trump, as she speaks to a large crowd at a rally in Greenville, South Carolina, on Feb. 19, 2024. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Hours earlier in Greenville, Haley will deliver what her campaign describes as a “state of the race” speech.

While Trump is dominating the Republican nomination race, Haley repeatedly points to general election polls that suggest she would be the stronger GOP standard-bearer to face off in November against President Biden.

She reiterated that argument on the campaign trail Monday.

“Donald Trump can’t win and we have to win. That’s the biggest thing. He lost it for us in 2018. He lost it for us in 2020. He lost it for us in 2022. Look at last week. He lost another court case on immunity. Now he’s going to be named citizen Trump,” she emphasized.

Haley argued that “everything he touches, we lose. How many more times do we  have to lose before we say maybe he’s the problem.”

Haley has enjoyed strong fundraising so far this year, and she is telling supporters that “I’m in this for the long haul.”

She reiterated to Fox News Digital in a recent interview that “our focus is on South Carolina, Michigan, Super Tuesday.”

Michigan holds its primary on Tuesday, Feb. 27, three days after South Carolina, and 15 states hold contests on Super Tuesday on March 5.

Pointing to the weeks ahead, as she pledged to continue her underdog effort, Haley told the large crowd Monday night in Greenville that “I promise you this, I am in this fight. I will take the bruises. I will take the cuts. This is going to be messy and I’ll take the hurt because I believe nothing good comes easy. Sometimes we have to feel pain to appreciate the blessing.”

Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey and Kirill Clark 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 ON FOX: President Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden, paid off thousands in taxes owed since 2015, Pennsylvania Department of Revenue filings show. 

As of Jan. 3 at 12:30 a.m., the Department of Revenue updated Ashley’s docket to “satisfaction filed,” indicating the previous lien notification “should be removed from the court records” in Philadelphia County.

On Dec. 18, Fox News Digital first reported Ashley’s tax delinquency after the issuance of a tax lien at the start of the month, indicating unpaid taxes totaling $4,985 plus a filing fee of $94.44, totaling $5,079.

A tax lien is a legal claim imposed by the government on a property or assets to secure unpaid taxes after repeated attempts to collect.

BIDEN’S DAUGHTER OWES THOUSANDS IN INCOME TAXES, LIEN DOCUMENTS SHOW

First lady Jill Biden, left, along with Hunter Biden and Ashley Biden, attends granddaughter Maisy Biden’s graduation from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on May 15, 2023. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

On Dec. 1, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue in Philadelphia County notified Ashley Biden that the “amount of such unpaid tax, interest, additions or penalties is a lien in favor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania upon the taxpayer’s property – real, personal, or both – as the case may be,” according to the notice.

The period start date listed on the lien begins Jan. 1, 2015 – when Joe Biden was vice president in the Obama administration – and ends Jan. 1, 2021, days before he was sworn in as president.

Ashley Biden’s attorney and the White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s multiple requests for comment.

BIDEN DAUGHTER ADDS TO LENGTHY FAMILY HISTORY OF TAX ISSUES

Joe Biden is sworn in as president on Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Pool/Getty Images)

Ashley worked as a social worker in the Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families from 2007 to 2012. She received her master’s degree in social work from University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice in 2010.

In 2017, while working at the Delaware Center for Justice – a nonprofit criminal justice reform organization – she launched a charitable fashion brand, Livelihood. In 2019, she left her job at the Delaware Center for Justice to help her father’s presidential campaign.

Garrett Ziegler, one of the board members of the nonprofit Marco Polo and former President Trump aide, told Fox News Digital in a statement Monday that “Marco Polo is pleased that Ashley has come into compliance with the law.”

Ziegler, who Hunter Biden is suing for leaking the contents of his infamous laptop, first notified Fox News Digital about the tax filings.

“However, to be clear, as a social worker who has had to deal with adversity and trauma from her past … and as the wife of a prominent surgeon, Ashley should have never had to deal with this — the people in her life should have done a better job of helping with her financial affairs,” he said.

Ashley’s brother, Hunter Biden, meanwhile, allegedly carried out a multiyear scheme to bypass paying $1.4 million in federal taxes while living an indulgent lifestyle that included spending significant sums on escorts and illegal drugs, according to his California indictment on nine tax-related charges.

MAN, WOMAN PLEAD GUILTY TO STEALING ASHLEY BIDEN DIARY, SELLING IT TO PROJECT VERITAS

Hunter Biden leaves a House Oversight Committee meeting, Jan. 10, 2024, on Capitol Hill. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

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Special Counsel David Weiss said he “engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020,” which was in the middle of his father’s presidential campaign.

Weiss added that in “furtherance of that scheme,” Hunter Biden “subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions” from the company “outside of the payroll and tax withholding process that it was designed to perform.”

Hunter Biden had allegedly “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” and in 2018, “stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes for tax year 2015.”

Fox News’ Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report.

The Biden campaign raised more than $42 million in January and has $130 million in cash-on-hand–a figure President Biden’s re-election team is touting as “the highest total amassed by any Democratic candidate in history” at this point in the election cycle, Fox News Digital has learned.

The campaign has raised nearly $278 million since the president announced his run for a second term in April 2023.

BIDEN CAMPAIGN REPORTS $97M IN Q4 OF 2023, TOUTS ‘HISTORIC’ $117M CASH-ON-HAND ON DAY OF IOWA CAUCUSES

“January’s fundraising haul – driven by a powerhouse grassroots fundraising program that continues to grow month by month – is an indisputable show of strength to start the election year,” said Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign manager, said in a statement.  “While Team Biden-Harris continues to build on its fundraising machine, Republicans are divided – either spending money fighting Donald Trump, or spending money in support of Donald Trump’s extreme and losing agenda.”

She added: “Either way, judging from their weak fundraising, they’re already paying the political price.”

President Joe Biden salutes while arriving during an event in the Indian Treaty Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. (Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Chavez Rodriguez said that the 2024 election “will determine the fate of our democracy and our freedoms,” and stressed that the Biden campaign “is using its resources to build a winning operation that will meet voters where they are about the stakes of this election.”

Meanwhile, campaign senior communications advisor TJ Ducklo said the team is “particularly proud that January shattered our grassroots fundraising record for a third straight month.”

BIDEN EXPECTED TO RAISE MORE THAN $15 MILLION IN STAR-STUDDED FUNDRAISING BLITZ: SOURCES

“This haul will go directly to reaching the voters who will decide this election,” Ducklo said. “That’s reason number 355 million that we are confident President Biden and Vice President Harris will win this November.”

The Biden campaign, in January, had its strongest grassroots fundraising month, breaking its previous record from December. The campaign said last month that 1.1 million supporters have made nearly 3 million contributions.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a ‘First In The Nation’ campaign rally at South Carolina State University on February 02, 2024, in Orangeburg, South Carolina. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

The campaign also touted “high-profile moments” that motivated grassroots donors, saying that they raised $1 million each day in the three days following the GOP Iowa Caucuses.

HALEY TOUTS JANUARY FUNDRAISING HAUL AHEAD OF FIRST RALLY IN SUPER TUESDAY STATE

“January’s unprecedented fundraising numbers underscore the grassroots momentum to send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris back to the White House, and elect Democrats up and down the ballot this November,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement. “From coast to coast, Americans are rallying together to safeguard our democracy and defend our freedoms in a historic way.”

He added: “As this election year kicks into full gear, Team Biden-Harris and the DNC stand united, leveraging the power of grassroots donors to propel Democrats to victory at every level.”

An early look at the Fox News 2024 Presidential Power Rankings predicts Georgia and Arizona to be among the closest contests. Those states were once thought to be Republican strongholds. Nevada, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have all shifted between red and blue over the years, making it difficult to determine which nominee voters there will pick in 2024.

“These were the closest last time around,” said Jessica Taylor, the Senate and governors editor for the Cook Political Report. Florida is “what 2000 came down to.”

Twenty-four years and six elections ago, Florida was a presidential battleground state, along with current solid Republican states like Missouri, Tennessee and West Virginia, and now-solid Democrat states like Washington, Oregon and New Mexico.

“Both [Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore] used these different campaign tactics and campaign memorabilia to kind of speak to certain voters,” Museum of Democracy Chair Austin Wright said.

TRUMP SPARKS EMOTIONAL REACTIONS FROM CROWD IN SURPRISE VISIT TO SNEAKER CONVENTION

Residents cast their votes in Brooklyn, New York City. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The Museum of Democracy in New York holds more than 1.25 million objects in its collection. Wright said in the 2000 election in Florida, Gore used a Gore-Lieberman yarmulke to cater to Florida’s large Jewish population. Bush campaigned by trying to sway more rural Florida voters with his Texas roots. 

“Some of these pictures of Bush in his Texas campaign gear … we think that contributed to the more rural Panhandle,” Wright said.

Bush won Florida by a narrow margin in 2000, prompting a recount. Without the state of Florida decided, Gore had 266 electoral votes and Bush had 246. The recount, certification process and legal battle lasted more than a month. The results eventually showed Bush won Florida with a tight 537-vote advantage over Gore.

“I am thankful for America and thankful that we were able to resolve our electoral differences in a peaceful way,” Bush said after the results were finalized.

Since 2000, Florida’s population has changed. The Cuban and Venezuelan populations are growing. In many cases, they fled their countries because of socialism and now tend to lean Republican.

DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ANNOUNCES CAMPAIGN LAYOFFS, VOWS TO REMAIN IN RACE: ‘REALLY TOUGH DAY’

Republican supporters hold up signs for Trump. (Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)

“I think there’s a misconception out there and just popular culture that there’s this monolithic Hispanic community,” said Gerhard Peters, co-director of the American Presidency Project at UC Santa Barbara. “Cuban Americans in South Florida have historically been very reliable Republican voters.”

There has also been an increase in retirees in Florida. Former President Trump won among voters 65 and older in the state by 11 points in 2020.

“To me, does Biden even play there?” Taylor said. “It’s just very hard to imagine that being very competitive when you look at just the trends.”

Florida voters last favored the Democrat nominee in 2012, when President Barack Obama ran for reelection against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.  

“I still consider Florida to be a battleground state,” Peters said. “I think it’s a very fluid state in a lot of ways. We’ve seen a lot of migration to Florida from other states.”

LAST RIVAL STANDING: HALEY FACES STEEP UPHILL CLIMB AGAINST TRUMP WITH 1 WEEK UNTIL SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY

A ballot box in Denver is shown. (RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

Colorado is another state that has experienced population changes over the years. In 2000 and 2004, Bush won the state. During the Obama years, it was a swing state. Now, Colorado is in the solid-blue category.

“Colorado is a great example of how the demographics changed,” Wright said. “I think Obama’s ‘hope and change’ sentiment really contributed to that. I think that artwork really made an imprint on giving young people this hope that the country could be a better, different place.”

Denver grew by 20% between 2010 and 2020, with mostly minorities moving to the city. A lot of voters in the suburbs are wealthier and college-educated. Suburban voters have tended to lean Democrat since Trump became the standard-bearer of the GOP. 

“A lot of suburban voters would have voted Republican in the past because they were thinking about their pocketbook issues,” Peters said. “A lot of those voters, especially educated women voters, have moved away from the Republican Party.”

Suburban voters are also impacting presidential preference in other states.

HISTORIAN WHO CORRECTLY PREDICTED ALMOST EVERY ELECTION WINNER SINCE 1984 REVEALS WHO IS LIKELY TO WIN IN 2024

Republican Party tables are shown in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images)

“Colorado to me is what possibly maybe Arizona could be in a couple of years if we see sort of the same trends,” Taylor said. “I think Arizona right now is firmly in the toss-up column because you do still have a significant number of Republicans there.”

Arizona holds the nation’s largest county and largest suburb. The Hispanic vote has also been growing, with the majority leaning Democrat.

“These campaigns have directed not only a number of ads that speak solely in Spanish, but we’ve seen a number of buttons and a number of posters that really touch on these different groups,” Wright said.

Another western state is also in the battleground state column.

“We’re doing a heck of a lot in the state of Nevada,” President Biden said during a recent campaign stop in the swing state.

TRUCKERS FOR TRUMP TO BOYCOTT DRIVING TO NEW YORK CITY AFTER $355M FRAUD RULING

Former President Trump is shown onstage in Nevada. (John Gurzinski/AFP via Getty Images)

Nevada trended red in the 1980s. Since 2008, the majority of voters there have picked the Democrat nominee. Similar to Arizona, the state has seen an increase in Hispanic voters.

Minorities are also helping Democrats in Georgia. Republican presidential candidates won the state from 1996 until 2020. Atlanta’s thriving job market has brought in younger, more diverse voters and is now home to nearly half of the state’s population.

“The digital side of it has really changed the way people campaign. And so I think that in places like Georgia … targeting young people in particular has kind of changed that whole dynamic,” Wright said.

“We weren’t even thinking about Arizona and Georgia a couple of presidential cycles ago. But when you look at the migration into the states – more diverse, more college-educated, that has put those on the map. Whereas Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, you have so many White working-class voters,” Taylor said. “A place like Wisconsin that was more reliably Democratic, it’s now come on the map.” 

BIDEN IS AN ‘UNINSPIRING CANDIDATE,’ CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD SAYS: ‘NO MAIN CHARACTER ENERGY AT ALL’

Former President Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Waterford Township, Michigan. (Jabin Botsford/Washington Post via Getty Images)

The White working-class vote swung right as Trump gained traction in the Republican Party.

“Pennsylvania is one of the most important battleground states in the nation,” Trump said at a National Rifle Association event in Harrisburg.

Some political scientists say Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election because she fell short in the Rust Belt states.

“I think the key for the Democrats and for Joe Biden is No. 1 to show up, to campaign in those states, to not take them for granted,” Peters said.

Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are still competitive because of the large number of suburban and minority voters.

BIDEN ADMIN BRACES FOR POSSIBLE TRUMP WIN, INSTALLS ‘ROADBLOCKS’ TO STOP HIM FROM RESHAPING GOVERNMENT: REPORT

President Biden and former President Trump (Jim Watson | Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

“Right now, every one of those general election polls show you … in Wisconsin, Trump doesn’t beat Biden. I win Wisconsin by 15 points,” Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley told reporters after a rally in Elgin, South Carolina. “Why would I do anything other than continue to fight and let the American people who don’t want this to be Trump and Biden, let them have a voice and be heard?”

While changing demographics have had an impact on many swing states, political preferences are also changing across the country.

“The coalitions of people that make up the political parties change. And I think we’re in the midst of that right now. Political scientists will debate what is the Republican Party? Or, what is the Democratic Party? Who are the people that make up those coalitions? And I think we’re seeing that change right before our eyes,” Peters said.

The battleground states could change again in coming years. Minnesota is trending in the direction of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, with the shift being driven by farmers and agricultural workers who tend to not like Democrat messaging on environmental issues and gun policy.

Texas could go the other direction. Republicans have been winning by narrower margins in recent elections. Hispanic and young voters aren’t the only group moving to the state. Liberal voters from other states like California are also migrating in increasing numbers.

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North Carolina could become a swing state once again after trending red in recent years. Many wealthy, urban voters moved to the state during the 2020 pandemic, whereas dozens of deep-red rural counties saw populations decline.

The National Rifle Association remains unwavering in its mission to defend law-abiding Americans’ Second Amendment rights amid a civil corruption lawsuit in New York and repeated attacks from liberal politicians, the group’s president and interim CEO told Fox News Digital. 

“We’re gonna be as active, if not more active, than we’ve ever been. We’ve always been a grassroots organization,” interim NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Andrew Arulanandam told Fox News Digital in an interview this month. 

Arulanandam and NRA President Charles Cotton spoke to Fox News Digital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, earlier this month, where the gun rights group held its annual Great American Outdoor Show. The nine-day event reported record attendance of more than 200,000 people, and was joined by former President Donald Trump this year, who delivered the event’s presidential forum keynote address. 

The interview comes ahead of a verdict in a civil corruption case brought by Democrat New York Attorney General Letitia James, and when the NRA has come under increased condemnation from critics under the Biden administration. 

GUN RIGHTS IN BATTLEGROUND STATE TAKE CENTER STAGE AHEAD OF 2024: ‘SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED’

Interim NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Andrew Arulanandam (NRA )

“The New York AG is not trying to put any other organization out of business. No other organization is attacked on a near daily basis like the NRA. You go after the enemy that’s making your life miserable, not the one who has no impact,” Cotton, an attorney who has been fighting for Second Amendment rights since the 1970s, said of the attacks and court case in New York. 

NRA DIGS IN FOR LEGAL FIGHT AGAINST WOKE PROSECUTOR OVER ALLEGED ‘ROADMAP’ OF ABUSE

In August 2020, James filed a dissolution lawsuit aiming to break up the NRA over alleged corruption. A New York Supreme Court justice ultimately blocked James’ effort to dissolve the organization in a 2022 decision, saying the suit did not meet the requirements of ordering a “corporate death penalty” on the group. The judge did allow the suit against the NRA’s top officials, including former CEO Wayne LaPierre, to proceed. James accused officials at the NRA of “years of illegal self-dealing” with NRA funds that provided a “lavish lifestyle.”

NRA President Charles Cotton on stage with former President Donald Trump. (NRA)

The NRA, however, has hit back against the case repeatedly since it was first floated, arguing it is politically motivated and intended to silence the organization, pointing to James’ previous comments vowing to take on the NRA before her election as New York AG. 

NEW YORK AG CASE AGAINST NRA LEADER FACES TRIAL AFTER COURT AGAIN REJECTS GUN GROUP’S CLAIM OF POLITICAL PROBE

While on the campaign trail ahead of her 2018 election, James called the group “an organ of deadly propaganda” and “a terrorist organization” and vowed to investigate whether the NRA could keep its charity status. 

Cotton said during the interview that the case has had an impact on the organization, but argued James and other critics “want to exaggerate our death,” giving a hat tip to the late Mark Twain. 

Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference, Sept. 21, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File)

“That is exactly what the AG is trying to do. When she originally filed the lawsuit, she was seeking to have the NRA dissolved, which simply means we’re not gonna exist anymore. Worse than that, all of our assets would be seized by the state and given to other Second Amendment organizations – they didn’t even have to be pro-gun. And we know where the money would have gone. It would have gone to Bloomberg’s Everytown,” he said of the pro-gun control organization. 

NEW YORK SUING TO DISSOLVE NRA IS ‘ONE OF THE DUMBEST MISTAKES’ YOU CAN MAKE IN ELECTION YEAR: ARI FLEISCHER

Now, James’ case focuses on the NRA, LaPierre, former CFO Wilson “Woody” Philips and general counsel John Frazer’s use of funds on luxury personal purchases and trips – not to dissolve the organization. LaPierre stepped down from the organization last month, citing health reasons, with Arulanandam soon taking the reins. 

The NRA has also repeatedly come under fire from critics who call the organization “racist” or say it promotes White supremacy, which Arulanandam shot down as “nothing … farther from the truth,” arguing the organization is focused on good vs. bad.

“The NRA is a colorblind organization. What we do care about is good and bad. And good and bad, there’s there’s no color. There’s good people across all race, color, creed. Same as bad. What we care about are the good people. We want to empower good people and we want to make sure that the criminal element in our country pays the price. And there’s nothing racist when you draw a line between good and bad,” he said. 

Following LaPierre’s departure, which took effect at the end of last month, Arulanandam said the mission of the organization has remained steadfast: defending law-abiding Americans’ rights to firearms and self-defense. 

Interim NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Andrew Arulanandam greets former President Donald Trump. (NRA )

“We’ve always been the leading organization to fight for self-defense laws, hunting rights, anything firearm related, anything self-defense related. We’ve been at the tip of the spear for decades, for as long as I can remember,” he said, adding that “we have a great team in place.” 

“People should judge us by record,” he said. “… 27 states now with constitutional carry – that’s like the gold standard as far as self-defense law. And we’ve done that in a relatively short period of time.” 

CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY: 2023 SAW NEW MILESTONE FOR GUN RIGHTS

Last year, the U.S. officially tipped as a constitutional carry majority nation, when 2023 closed out with 27 states having laws on the books allowing law-abiding residents to carry a concealed firearm without a permit, effectively eliminating the need for qualifying residents to ask the government for permission to carry. 

When asked how the NRA is working to grow, especially among youths, Arulanandam pointed to their teams at the NRA who interact with the public and produce viral videos of legal gun owners that reach millions of Americans. He added, however, that the media has “refused” to report on stories highlighting how guns can save lives from criminals acts, or on the training programs the NRA has in place for members. 

“We’re working. We haven’t lost a beat. We keep on putting scores up on the board. It’s just that the media refuses to cover it,” he said. 

Audience members at NRA’s Great American Outdoor Show. (NRA )

Cotton also argued the media has created a roadblock, and failed to accurately report to the public what the NRA does. He said when the average American thinks of the NRA, their minds turn to litigation, legislation and elections – not the nearly 200 programs offered to train and educate citizens on how to properly use firearms. 

STEFANIK DEMANDS NEW YORK AG LETITIA JAMES BE DISBARRED OVER TRUMP CASE

“I think it’s ironic to a lot of the young folks you’re talking about, even young folks on the other side of the issue, are coming to our side. And the reason they’re doing it is not frankly because of our efforts, but because, as Andrew said, the media won’t – in their viewpoint – advertise what all we do. So it’s ironic that they’re coming to us because of the lawlessness that they’re seeing in so many of the major cities.”

People walk past signage in the hallways outside the exhibit halls at the NRA annual meeting at the George R. Brown Convention Center, May 26, 2022, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

“We’ll see stories about, ‘Well, why in the world is grandma getting a gun for the first time?’ or ‘Why is someone who just turned 18 or 21, depending upon the state, getting their first gun?’ And, unfortunately, it’s in reaction to the times and what we’ve seen in the increase in violence. So thank God, literally, that the NRA is there with our training ability with our 120,000 firearms instructors. We can answer the call with that,” he said. 

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The civil corruption case held closing arguments last week, with the jury expected to hand down a verdict in the coming days. 

Nikki Haley is campaigning hard, making the television rounds and ramping up her rhetoric against Donald Trump.

She is fighting on her home turf – South Carolina, the state that knows her best – and yet the media are acting in many ways as if the campaign is over.

That’s largely because the state’s former governor trails Trump by 22 to 36 percentage points, according to the last several South Carolina polls.

RON DESANTIS ACCUSES NIKKI HALEY OF APPEALING TO ‘LIBERAL’ T-SHIRT WEARERS: ‘SHE’S POISONED THE WELL’

Haley is not only way behind Trump, she’s not closing the gap in a way that makes it a competitive contest on Saturday.

And if she loses by more than 20, the pundits will view that as the final nail in her political coffin.

Republican presidential candidate former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks during Fox News’ “Democracy 2024: South Carolina Town Hall” on Feb. 18 in Columbia, South Carolina, ahead of its Republican primary on Feb. 24.  (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Beyond that, I can’t think of a single state that Haley can win outright. She says she’ll continue at least through Super Tuesday, but the former president may have mathematically clinched the nomination by then, or shortly afterward.

This is not a knock on Haley (though contemporaries say she burned some bridges in South Carolina). The former U.N. ambassador managed to be the last woman standing, well after Pence, DeSantis, Scott, Christie and the others dropped out. But it’s instructive to look at how she’s campaigning, and why Trump – despite his four indictments and $355 million civil fraud penalty – seems unstoppable.

In a Sunday interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Haley increasingly tried to tie Trump to Vladimir Putin’s murderous tactics in the wake of the Arctic prison killing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny:

“When you hear Donald Trump say in South Carolina a week ago that he would encourage Putin to invade our allies if they weren’t pulling their weight, that’s bone-chilling, because all he did in that one moment was empower Putin. And all he did in that moment was, he sided with a guy that kills his political opponents, he sided with a thug that arrests American journalists and holds them hostage, and he sided with a guy who wanted to make a point to the Russian people, don’t challenge me in the next election or this will happen to you too.”

TRUMP’S NATO COMMENTS TRIGGER FIERCE MEDIA AND EUROPEAN OPPOSITION: HOW SERIOUS IS HE?

What’s more, Haley told Jonathan Karl, “it’s actually pretty amazing that he – not only after making those comments that he would encourage Putin to invade NATO, but the fact that he won’t acknowledge anything with Navalny. Either he sides with Putin and thinks it’s cool that Putin killed one of his political opponents, or he just doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal.” 

Trump had said he wouldn’t protect any NATO country that didn’t spend 2% of its funds on defense, and in that case he would encourage Putin and Russia to “do whatever they hell they wanted.” He has made no mention of Navalny’s death, which President Biden quickly blamed on Putin.

Haley reminded viewers that if Ukraine falls, Poland or the Baltics could be next.

Aerial footage shows blasts on Ukrainian coke plant. (Reuters)

Now think about this. If a candidate not named Trump had made comments interpreted as potentially blowing up the Atlantic alliance – drawing condemnation from top European leaders – and stayed silent when Russia’s dictator had the opposition leader killed, after a previous poisoning attempt, wouldn’t there be a political uproar?

But since it is Trump, who as president had a friendly relationship with Putin, there has been scant criticism from Republicans. If Trump believes it, most of the party falls into line.

It harkens back to his old 2016 line about shooting someone on Fifth Avenue. Just as the Senate seemed on the verge of passing a bipartisan border bill that included aid to Ukraine and Israel, Trump torpedoed the measure by coming out against it.

DEMOCRATS WIN SEAT, REPUBLICANS WIN IMPEACHMENT, TWO PRESIDENTS CLASH OVER NATO

And in a FOX town hall Sunday night, Haley, who often says her ex-boss was a good president at the time, offered a more negative assessment:

“There were things that he did wrong,” Haley told John Roberts. “His press conference in Helsinki, when he went and was trying to buddy up with Putin, I called him out for that. I explained that deeply in my book…how he was completely wrong. Because every time he was in the same room with him, he got weak in the knees. We can’t have a president that gets weak in the knees with Putin.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman told him of Alexey Navalny’s death during a meeting with workers at the AO Konar plant on Feb. 16 in Chelyabinsk, Russia. (Contributor/Getty Images)

About 20 minutes after Haley used the “weak in the knees” line yesterday on “Fox & Friends,” saying Trump has “yet to say anything about Navalny’s death,” the ex-president responded on Truth Social: 

“The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country. It is a slow, steady progression, with CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction.” You might have noticed the pivot, and the failure to mention Putin at all. 

All this, in a nutshell, is why the press are far more interested in the veepstakes chatter surrounding Trump than in Haley’s dogged campaigning.

What most of the media and other critics fail to understand is that Trump represents the majority of his party. He has remade the GOP in his own image. Most leaders, with the notable exception of the strongly pro-Ukraine Mitch McConnell, follow their leader, as do rank-and-file members afraid of a Donald-backed primary challenger.

Speaker Mike Johnson admitted he consulted with Trump before declaring the border compromise DOA. Marco Rubio, who two months ago helped pass a law barring any president from withdrawing from NATO, said he had no problem with Trump’s remarks about the alliance.

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There are even lines that Haley won’t cross. Asked repeatedly on ABC whether she still plans to endorse Trump if he wins, as she said at the campaign’s outset, Haley kept deflecting the question.

A decade ago, Haley’s pro-military and anti-Russia views would have been a comfortable fit for the Republican Party, but that party no longer exists.

Democratic operatives have joined an effort to recall a progressive Washington, D.C. councilmember over his criminal justice reform policies, raising tens of thousands of dollars since the campaign launched in December.

Capitol Hill resident Jennifer Squires began the effort to oust Councilmember Charles Allen amid an escalating crime surge in the nation’s capital. By February, the campaign had already raised over $56,000 and garnered support from Democratic political fundraisers and congressional staffers, including former President Obama superdelegate and Democrat lobbyist Moses Mercado, according to campaign filings. 

“Crime has become a real issue in the District with lasting consequences,” Squires said in a statement in January. “As a mother whose children used to walk to school daily across Capitol Hill, it’s really frightening.”

“A growing group of us watched as our Councilman, someone I voted for, systematically did the exact opposite things he should be doing to keep us safe,” she said. 

A recall effort was launched against Washington, D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen over his criminal justice reform policies as crime has run rampant citywide.  (Getty Images)

In response to the recall effort, Allen pointed to his efforts to recruit more police officers with a $25,000 dollar signing bonus for new hires and helping pass anti-gun laws, such as increasing penalties for dangerous automatic weapons.

“This recall effort is misleading and misinformed,” Allen said in a statement to WUSA9. “I’ve worked to hold criminals accountable with strong laws and bring a whole of government approach to reducing crime long-term.”

Democrats supporting the recall effort include former House aide and TikTok lobbyist Michael Hacker, fundraiser Tonya Fulkerson and the chief of staff for Rep. Dan Kildee, Mitchell Rivard, Bloomberg reported. Around 100 people attended the first volunteer event on Thursday and at least a dozen hands raised after recall organizers asked who had been carjacked, the campaign wrote on X.

“I did national politics, not local politics,” Mercado said during the event, The Washington Post reported. “But I realized — I had a conversation with my wife about what if something happens, God forbid, somebody carjacks her?”

BLUE CITY’S RAMPANT VIOLENCE LED THIS FORMER DC RESIDENT TO FLEE THE CRIME-RIDDEN CAPITAL

Allen supporters have criticized the effort, including former councilmember and longtime D.C. resident Tommy Wells, who filed for an anti-recall committee and fundraising effort in support of Allen on Thursday, Axios reported. Wells argued that Allen has widespread support after three consecutive election victories and criticized the recall effort for also attracting significant Republican support. 

Some D.C. residents are fed up with Democratic Councilmember Charles Allen and his handling of criminal justice reform as crime skyrockets across the district.  (Charles Allen/Facebook)

5 MONTHS. 5 BURGLARIES. ANOTHER RESTAURANT SHUTTERS AS CRIME PUSHES BUSINESSES TO BRINK IN BLUE CITY

“The voters of Ward 6 overwhelmingly reelected, Charles Allen, one year ago,” Wells told Fox News in an emailed statement. “The people who launched this recall are upset about actions that Allen took long before his reelection, and now they are diverting his time and energy from doing his job, including fighting crime. They should be working with him and his team instead of devoting time and money to overturning the will of the voters.” 

“The recall effort is playing into the hands of right wing Republicans, who claim that Democrats are mismanaging US cities, and that DC in particular does not deserve home rule,” Wells said. “These are the same Republicans who prevent sensible gun controls that would go far in reducing violent crime in a city awash in guns.”

But Squires, a fellow longtime Washington resident, said the neighborhood has worsened under Allen’s watch. She defended Republican support for the recall campaign and said they were welcome during a Thursday event, according to The Washington Post.

It’s “not about politics,” Squires said Thursday, reiterating that the campaign is focused on tackling the city’s crime crisis. 

The nation’s capital is facing an ongoing crime wave, according to city police department data. The city hit a 26-year-high in homicides in 2023. (Astrid Riecken For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“This is basically a campaign about ideas and trying to convince this man he’s got the wrong ideas,” Squires said about Allen’s criminal justice reform policies. “I don’t care if you’re Republican, I don’t care who you are — especially if you live in Ward 6. That’s his constituency.”

As crime has dipped in some major cities across the country, the nation’s capital has faced skyrocketing crime, ending 2023 with 274 murders — the most in over two decades, according to Metropolitan Police Department data. Robberies and thefts spiked 67% and 23%, respectively, while motor vehicle thefts almost doubled.

SURGING CRIME, COSTS FORCED 52 BUSINESSES TO SHUTTER IN THIS BLUE CITY LAST YEAR. ANOTHER IS ABOUT TO CLOSE

The recall campaign condemned Allen, who served as the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee’s chair from 2017 to 2022, for shepherding a criminal code reform last year that would have lowered penalties for certain offenses like burglaries and carjackings had Congress and President Biden not blocked the legislation. The councilmember was also criticized for his proposal that slashed millions from the police budget in 2020 and was accused of supporting progressive legislation enabling criminals. 

Allen’s actions “to open the jail doors for violent offenders while slashing the police department budget is having real consequences,” Squires told Fox News in her statement. “We are now seeing the results of his failed leadership and misguided policies.”

But Wells said Allen strengthened the community’s parks, retail shops and libraries, The Washington Post reported. 

“They’ve moved to a fabulous place, and they’re upset and angry, and that’s understandable,” Wells said about residents fed up over crime. “Their focus is on Charles. But they also have to remember: Why did they move there to begin with? This is a great place that Charles helped create.”

The organizer of a recall effort against Washington, D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen said the ongoing crime crisis is a result of Allen’s failed leadership and misguided policies.  (Megan Myers/Fox News Digital)

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On Tuesday, the Washington, D.C. Board of Elections issued an official petition for the recall, The Washington Post reported. Recall organizers have 180 days to collect around 6,000 signatures in order to move forward with a recall election. 

Allen did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment. 

The National Border Patrol Council on Monday had some harsh words for President Biden over his handling of the ongoing border crisis, calling him a “coward” who has failed to take responsibility.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Border Patrol Union called out the president, writing: “Dear Joe, You OWN this catastrophic disaster at the border – lock, stock and barrel.” 

“You created it. You nursed it along. You encouraged it. You facilitated it. It’s all yours,” wrote NBPC. “Don’t run from it now like a coward. Signed, The BP agents you’ve thrown under the bus.” 

The post comes after a Senate deal on border enforcement measures collapsed earlier this month after Republicans withdrew their support, rejecting a compromise to tie the bill with aid to Ukraine. 

VULNERABLE DEM SENATOR BREAKS SILENCE ON BIDEN ADMIN PROVIDING VETERAN MEDICAL RESOURCES TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Biden and Democrats accused Republicans of kowtowing to former President Donald Trump, his presumed GOP opponent in the 2024 race, after the former president signaled his opposition. The White House also seized on the Border Patrol Union’s support for the border deal. 

Biden, meanwhile, has repeatedly said his hands are tied on the border issue and would shut it down if given the authority by Congress. Critics have countered that the president already has the ability and simply refuses to enforce the law. 

FILE: Texas National Guard soldiers wait nearby the boat ramp where law enforcement enter the Rio Grande at Shelby Park on January 26, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas.  (Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images)

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration in allowing Border Patrol agents to cut razor wire that Texas installed along its border with Mexico to stem a flow of illegal crossings. 

LINDSEY GRAHAM, WHO VOTED AGAINST SENATE FOREIGN AID BILL, ‘VERY OPTIMISTIC’ ABOUT HOUSE PROPOSAL

The ruling came after Texas restricted U.S. Border Patrol’s access to an area along the river known as Shelby Park, accusing the Biden administration of not being tough enough on crossings.

FILE: A National Guard soldier stands guard on the banks of the Rio Grande at Shelby Park on January 12, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas.  (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

The Biden administration has had a rocky relationship with Border Patrol agents since taking office. In his first year, the president accused agents of having “strapped” migrants in a clash at the border in Del Rio and promised they would “pay” – statements that the president never corrected, nor apologized for. 

The September 2021 incident in question came as Border Patrol agents were dealing with a surge of more than 10,000 migrants who had gathered under a bridge. 

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Photographs emerged that some Democrats and media commentators had incorrectly interpreted as showing agents using whips or whipping migrants who were trying to cross the river. In fact, the agents were using split reins to control their horses.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report. 

A luxury watch dealer CEO came out the big winner at Philadephia’s Sneaker Con Saturday, taking home a pair of golden sneakers signed by former President Trump.

Roman Sharf, Founder and CEO of Luxury Bazaar, a luxury watch dealer, won the pair of “Never Surrender high tops” after placing a bid of $9,000 at the convention, also known as “The Greatest Sneaker Show On Earth,” according to the organizer’s website. Reports have indicated that Sharf is Russian, but the CEO told Fox News Digital he is Ukrainian.

A video shared on social media shows Sharf holding the pair after his big win. 

“Of course I’ve got something to say — Trump 2024,” Sharf said in the video. 

TRUMP SPARKS EMOTIONAL REACTIONS FROM CROWD IN SURPRISE VISIT TO SNEAKER CONVENTION

Roman Sharf, Founder and CEO of Luxury Bazaar, a luxury watch dealer, won the pair of “Never Surrender high tops” after placing a bid of $9,000 at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia.  (@AtlasEternal13/LOCAL NEWS X /TMX)

Sharf later posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he would be passing the sneakers down to his kids but would be displaying them in his office for the time being. 

Trump took to the stage in Philadelphia over the weekend, receiving mixed and emotional reactions from those in attendance. The former president spoke for approximately 10 minutes, standing alongside a pair of limited-supply gold, custom Trump-branded sneakers sold for $399 a pair.

TRUCKERS FOR TRUMP TO BOYCOTT DRIVING TO NEW YORK CITY AFTER $355M FRAUD RULING

“A lot of emotion. There’s a lot of emotion in this room,” Trump said after taking the podium. “They have lines going all around the block. They’ve never seen anything like this one.”

Roman Sharf, Founder and CEO of Luxury Bazaar, a luxury watch dealer, won the pair of “Never Surrender high tops” after placing a bid of $9,000 at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia.  (@AtlasEternal13/LOCAL NEWS X /TMX)

“I just want to tell you, you know, I’ve wanted to do this for a long time. I have some incredible people that work with me on things, and they came up with this,” he said. “This is something I’ve been talking about for 12 years, 13 years, and I think it’s going to be a big success.”

TRUMP BLASTS ‘CLUBHOUSE POLITICIAN’ JUDGE AFTER BEING FINED $350M, DEFENDS THE ‘GREAT COMPANY’ HE BUILT

Sneaker Con previously faced backlash from Trump critics for allowing the former president a venue to offer remarks. The organizers eventually took to social media to share a statement in response.

“Sneaker Con’s mission is to support and promote sneaker culture through our worldwide live events and digital platforms.
We are thankful and appreciative of the sneaker community, and recognize individuals who generate awareness and authentic sneaker related engagement towards our community,” the statement read. 

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump takes the stage to introduce a new line of signature shoes at Sneaker Con at the Philadelphia Convention Center on February 17, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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The Biden campaign reacted to Trump’s appearance at the event, with Biden-Harris 2024 communications director Michael Tyler saying in a statement, “Donald Trump showing up to hawk bootleg Off-Whites is the closest he’ll get to any Air Force Ones ever again for the rest of his life.”

Fox News’ Kyle Morris contributed to this report. 

A North Carolina environmental board whose recent membership alteration by the General Assembly is being challenged by Gov. Roy Cooper can cancel its own lawsuit over pollution limits while the governor’s broader litigation about several state commissions continues, judges ruled Friday.

The decision from a three-judge panel — a setback for Cooper — dissolves last month’s order from a single judge to temporarily block the Environmental Management Commission from dismissing its complaint against the Rules Review Commission. The rules panel had blocked regulations from the environmental panel on new numerical standards in surface waters of a synthetic industrial chemical because it said some information it received was inadequate.

The environmental panel is one of seven boards and commissions that the Democratic governor sued GOP legislative leaders over in October. Cooper alleges that lawmakers violated the state constitution with laws in 2023 that contain board memberships that weaken his control over them. On six of the boards, including the environmental panel, the governor no longer gets to fill a majority of positions. Republicans have said the changes bring more diversity to state panels.

NORTH CAROLINA GOV. COOPER SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO CONSERVE 1M ACRES OF FORESTS AND WETLANDS

The judges heard three hours of arguments Friday from attorneys for Cooper and GOP legislative leaders, mostly pitching why their clients should come out victorious in Cooper’s full lawsuit. The judges didn’t immediately rule on those competing judgment requests, but asked the parties to send draft orders by Feb. 23. Any ruling could be appealed to state courts. The lawsuit is one of many filed by Cooper against GOP legislative leaders over the balance of power in the two branches of government since 2016.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is pictured here waiting for President Joe Biden to address guests during a visit to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University on April 14, 2022, in Greensboro, North Carolina. A three-judge panel ruled that the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission can cancel its own lawsuit over pollution limits, which its new members have decided against pursuing. This comes as part of an ongoing conflict between Gov. Cooper and Republican legislative leaders in his state regarding Cooper’s claim that the legislators have unconstitutionally weakened his control over multiple state boards by changing laws so that he no longer gets to choose the majority of board members.

The panel of Superior Court Judges John Dunlow, Paul Holcombe and Dawn Layton in November blocked changes to three challenged boards while Cooper’s lawsuit played out. But the Environmental Management Commission was not part of their injunction.

That opened the door to a reconstituted commission, with a new chairman and fewer Cooper allies as members, to vote in January to back out of the lawsuit that was filed when Cooper appointees held a majority of commission positions. Cooper’s attorneys argued that the withdraw provided evidence that changes to the 15-member body prevented him from carrying out laws in line with his policy preferences.

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Dunlow didn’t give a reason in court Friday why the three judges denied Cooper’s request for a longer injunction preventing the environmental commission from dismissing its lawsuit. The body is also one of three challenged commissions where membership now also includes appointees of the insurance or agriculture commissioners, who like the governor are executive branch officers.

Cooper lawyer Jim Phillips argued that the state constitution “charges the governor alone with the responsibility to ensure that our laws are faithfully executed.” He again emphasized state Supreme Court rulings from the 1980s and 2010s as confirmation that GOP legislators went too far in membership changes that took away Cooper’s appointments and gave them to the General Assembly, its leaders or other statewide elected officials.

But Matthew Tilley, a lawyer for House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger, said the governor has “never been alone in the exercise of executive power in our state.” Tilley also suggested the distribution of duties to other executive branch officers is a General Assembly policy preference that isn’t subject to judicial review.

The State Department’s inspector general has opened an inquiry into the suspension of President Biden’s special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, according to a report. 

The inspector general’s office informed members of Congress on Jan. 23 about the internal investigation, Semafor reported Saturday, citing correspondence viewed by the outlet. 

“The scope of the special review of the suspension of Robert Malley’s clearance will include the procedures the Department used in suspending the clearance as well as actions taken by the Department following the suspension,” Ryan Holden, the inspector general’s director of congressional and public affairs, reportedly said in the letter. “This will include whether the Department followed proper procedures in suspending his clearance, determining what access to information he could maintain, and deciding the status of his employment.”

Holden informed lawmakers that the inspector general was interviewing State Department staff and reviewing documents and emails as part of the probe, and that a report would be made public at a later date.

BIDEN’S IRAN ENVOY ROBERT MALLEY PLACED ON LEAVE AMID SECURITY CLEARANCE INVESTIGATION

Robert Malley, vice president for Policy of the International Crisis Group, spoke at the Forum MED Mediterranean Dialogues summit in Rome on Nov. 30, 2017. (Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

“The special review will also examine which officials were involved in these decisions and how the process compares to that used for other types of employees,” the letter added. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department on Monday about the report but did not immediately hear back. 

The probe comes in response to growing questions from members of Congress about the Diplomatic Security Service’s decision to revoke his security clearance last April. 

Lawmakers reportedly have expressed concern over how Malley continued to perform some of the duties of the special envoy for nearly three months before the State Department officially placed him on unpaid leave in late June amid an investigation into his security clearance. Members of Congress hoped the new inspector general inquiry could explain why. 

Robert Malley, then the Middle East and North Africa Program director at the International Crisis Group, left, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Jan. 23, 2007 in Washington, D.C. (Jamie Rose/Getty Images)

GOP staffers who spoke to Semafor expressed doubt that details about the inspector general’s probe would be made public before November’s election, given the inquiry’s wide scope. 

Malley, who served in the position since January 2021, is also under investigation by the FBI for allegedly mishandling classified documents. He played a significant role in the Biden administration’s efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement. In 2018, then-President Trump opted to withdraw from the deal and reimpose sanctions on Iran.

BIDEN’S SUSPENDED IRAN SPECIAL ENVOY ONCE PUSHED ENGAGEMENT WITH HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH TERROR GROUPS

Before becoming special envoy, Malley worked in leadership roles at the non-profit International Crisis Group, which had reached a formal research agreement with Iran’s Foreign Ministry in 2016, Semafor reported earlier this month. The outlet said the deal had not been publicly disclosed. 

National Security Council Senior Director for Iran, Iraq, Syria and the Gulf States Robert Malley and other U.S. and EU officials with their Tehran counterparts attend the Iran nuclear talks at a hotel in Vienna on June 30, 2015. (POOL/Siamek Ebrahimi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

In the wake of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas in southern Israel, Malley’s previous efforts to push for U.S. engagement with Iran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah terror groups have come under scrutiny. Yet, Malley, who remains on leave from the State Department, is teaching a class at Yale University this semester titled, “Contending with Israel-Palestine,” which aims to take “an in-depth look at important questions surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” according to Yale News. 

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The Biden administration has been mostly quiet about Malley since his suspension over the summer, and a new special envoy has been tapped to take over. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a high school classmate of Malley’s in Paris, and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan both initially championed Malley’s diplomatic work.