NationalWatch

Critics on social media dragged President Biden over video footage showing what appeared to be a small showing of supporters greeting the president’s motorcade in the deep blue city of Atlanta, where he held a fundraising event and delivered Morehouse College’s commencement speech. 

“Crooked Joe Biden – dazed and confused, as usual – shuffles down the short stairs in Atlanta ahead of his day of pandering. He ignores questions,” RNC research posted Saturday as Biden landed in the city. 

“If a presidential motorcade passes through town but absolutely nobody cares – did it really pass through town?” RNC Research asked in a follow-up question, accompanied by video footage showing largely empty streets dotted with some people filming the motorcade. 

Biden held a fundraiser in the expensive Atlanta neighborhood of Buckhead on Saturday, where he lauded Georgia voters as the reason he won against former President Trump in 2020. 

BIDEN INTERRUPTED BY PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTER AT ATLANTA RALLY: ‘I DON’T RESENT THE PASSION’

“If you ever doubt the power of the vote, I say come to Georgia. You are the reason I won. Georgia is the reason I’m president right now,” Biden told the supporters at the event, AJC reported.

Footage showing the apparent lack of fanfare over Biden’s motorcade sparked criticisms on social media. Videos circulating online only show short clips of city sidewalks as the president drives by. 

“Biden arrived in Georgia to participate in a campaign event, and his motorcade drove through deep blue Atlanta. Nobody cared,” one X user named Julia posted. 

“Mobs gather in Atlanta to see Joe Biden’s motorcade,” X user Collette Harrington posted tongue in cheek. 

“Haha. Man, can Biden draw a crowd. The only people there are waiting to cross the street,” another user wrote, mocking the footage. 

“​​MASSIVE crowd of almost 4 people line the streets as Biden’s motorcade passes through in Atlanta,” another critical tweet read. 

Biden joined supporters at Mary Mac’s Tea Room in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon before heading to the Arthur M. Blank Family Office for the fundraiser. 

TRUMP ATTENDS SLAIN NYPD OFFICER JONATHAN DILLER’S WAKE: ‘NEED LAW AND ORDER’

“You all brung me to the dance,” Biden told supporters at the tea room, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You really made a gigantic difference. 

“It’s easy to forget, but I don’t forget.”

TRUMP RAISES MILLIONS IN RITZY ATLANTA NEIGHBORHOOD THAT WANTS TO SECEDE OVER VIOLENT CRIME

Biden’s trip to Atlanta has also been marked by protests and outrage – before he even landed in A-Town – when students at Morehouse College sounded off earlier this month that Biden’s commencement speech at the historically Black college was political.

“The general feeling on the ground is that we don’t want him here,” a student named Malik told WSB-TV in Atlanta earlier this month when Biden’s speech was announced. “It’s very obvious that we’re being used to score political points and get more Black votes. It is so obvious that it’s just about the presidential campaign.”

MOREHOUSE STUDENTS PROTEST BIDEN’S UPCOMING GRADUATION SPEECH: ‘BEING USED’ TO ‘GET MORE BLACK VOTES’

“We don’t want Biden. We don’t want politics. And we definitely don’t want Biden to come speak politics,” one student said.

Another remarked, “There’s a lot more other prominent figures right now that can come to our colleges and universities and speak to us as Morehouse men.”

Students and faculty also held a protest Friday criticizing the U.S.’s handling of the war in Israel ahead of Biden’s speech. 

“I definitely understand from a political aspect why he is coming, but from a human and moral level, it makes no sense for the college to invite him or give him an honorary degree,” Morehouse student Anwar Karim told Channel 2. 

BIDEN TO DELIVER MOREHOUSE COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS AS PROTESTS DISRUPT GRADUATIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Anti-Israel agitators have carried out protests on college campuses nationwide since last month. Morehouse’s president warned that if disruptive protests broke out on campus Sunday, he would shut down commencement proceedings. 

“What we won’t allow is disruptive behavior that prevents the ceremony or services from proceeding, in a manner that those in attendance can partake and enjoy. So, for example, prolonged shouting down of the president as he is speaking. I have also made a decision that we will also not ask police to take individuals out of commencement in zip ties,” ​​Morehouse College President David Thomas said last week. “If faced with the choice, I will cease the ceremonies on the spot if we were to reach that position. But this will not be a place where there will be a national photo op of individuals being taken out of the Morehouse campus in zip ties by the police authorities.”

VP HARRIS CALLED OUT OR ‘PANDERING’ TO BLACK VOTERS WITH ‘EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN’ DINNERS

Biden’s visit to Atlanta comes after a New York Times poll found Trump is leading Biden in a majority of key battleground states, including, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Arizona. Trump’s support among Black voters has also surged, sparking shock from CNN last week when a poll found the 45th president’s support more than doubled to 22% compared to 2020. Biden has seen a 12% drop in support among Black voters, but still holds a 47-point lead.

TRUMP’S SURGE IN POLLS WITH BLACK VOTERS STUNS CNN ANALYST: ‘TRULY HISTORIC’

Trump also visited Atlanta last month, and was notably surrounded by supporters during his trip – including at a Chick-fil-A, where he bought patrons chicken and milkshakes. He also made a stop for a fundraiser in Buckhead, a neighborhood that tried to secede from Atlanta due to spiraling crime in recent years. 

TRUMP VISITS ATLANTA CHICK-FIL-A, BUYS CUSTOMERS CHICKEN AND SHAKES

Dubbed the “Beverly Hills of the South,” residents of the Atlanta district tried to secede from the city in 2021 through last year, as violent crimes such as homicides continued an upward trend, as well as when vehicle thefts and shoplifting spiked.

The effort to secede received support from some local Republican leaders, and notably received the backing of Trump, who railed against “RINO” politicians who did not come to the aid of residents demanding assistance with crime trends. 

“What is happening in the City of Atlanta is nothing short of disgraceful. It’s national news and a regional embarrassment. The good people of Buckhead don’t want to be a part of defunding the police and the high crime that’s plaguing their communities,” Trump wrote in February 2022. “However, RINOs like Governor Brian Kemp, the man responsible, along with his puppet master Mitch McConnell, for the loss of two Senate Seats and 2020 Presidential Vote, Lt. Governor Jeff Duncan, Speaker David Ralston, and State Senators Butch Miller, Jeff Mullis, and John Albers always talk a big game but they don’t deliver.”

MASSIVE TRUMP BEACH RALLY IN DEEP-BLUE NJ DRAWS STARK CONTRAST TO BIDEN’S BEACH WEEKEND: ‘BIDEN COULD NEVER’

Trump has been tied up in a Manhattan courtroom since last month, facing 34 counts of falsifying business records. The case focuses on the prosecution team working to prove Trump falsified business records 34 times to conceal a $130,000 payment to former pornography star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to quiet her claims of an affair with Trump. 

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Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case. 

The trial has largely kept him from the campaign trail, but he did hold what has been described as an historic rally in deep blue New Jersey last week, when at least 80,000 supporters joined Trump on the beaches of Wildwood. He is expected to hold his next rally in the Bronx, another historically deep blue area, which will be his first New York rally since 2016. 

President Biden’s assertion of executive privilege to prevent recordings of his interviews with special counsel Robert Hur from being released shares some similarities with former President Trump’s attempts to use privilege while in the White House, according to one legal expert.

Though transcripts of Biden’s interview with Hur have already been released to a committee, the White House asserted executive privilege to block the audio recordings from becoming public while arguing in lockstep with Attorney General Merrick Garland that “law enforcement files like these need to be protected.”

“The same arguments were made during the Trump years as are being made now. It’s just that the roles are reversed,” former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy told Fox News Digital. 

“For example, during the Mueller investigation, Trump made available Don McGahn, who was the White House counsel. They not only let Mueller interview McGahn at length, but McGahn took voluminous notes of his conversations with Trump, which they also turned over. And then Democrats wanted to subpoena McGahn to come to the House Judiciary Committee, and the Republicans fought it.

BIDEN’S PRIVILEGE CLAIM TO KEEP SPECIAL COUNSEL INTERVIEW UNDER WRAPS A ‘CRUDE POLITICS’ MOVE: EXPERTS

“What they said was giving information to an executive branch prosecutor doesn’t waive the privilege as to Congress,” he added. “The Democrats all said that this was an obstruction of justice, that it was outrageous, that he’d already waived the privilege by allowing McGhan to speak to the prosecutor.”

Executive privilege has been around since the earliest days of the country and gives the executive branch the ability to withhold certain internal discussions and documents from scrutiny by the courts and the legislative branch. It allows the president some breathing room for his own deliberations with staff.

“The fact is that since the Republic started, presidents have been withholding information from Congress,” McCarthy said.

Congress has a variety of tools it can use to pry information out of the executive branch, including by holding people in contempt. 

“Congress has a whole arsenal of stuff from the Constitution, powers that it can use to fight back and pry information out of the executive branch,” McCarthy said. “You know, you can slash budgets or hold up appointments, and if it gets bad enough, you can start holding people in contempt. … The final option, obviously, is impeachment.”

McCarthy warned, however, that if the president’s party has enough influence in Congress, those efforts can be more challenging.

“If the president’s party has enough sway in Congress that you can stop that arsenal from being used, then the whole thing is just a political calculation,” he said. “Like for Biden here, it’s how much worse would I be hurt by letting the tape come out or the recording come out than by stonewalling. It looks like the tape is so bad, he’s decided that even though he’s going to be damaged by stonewalling, that’s better than letting the tape out.”

McCarthy also highlighted how the media has reacted to Biden’s assertion of executive privilege, saying they’ll report on the matter in an attempt to preserve their integrity and then move on from it to “help Biden bury it.”

“The usual problem that you always have here is that when Republican administrations stonewall, the media gets all whipped up about it, and when Democratic administrations stonewall, they feel like they have to cover it for a day or two so that they can say they covered it but then move on to another subject and help Biden bury it, or at least they’ll try,” he said.

Garland on Thursday defended Biden’s decision to assert executive privilege, saying the subpoena for audio recordings “is one that would harm our ability in the future to successfully pursue sensitive investigations.”

“There have been a series of unprecedented, frankly, unfounded attacks on the Justice Department. This request, this effort to use contempt as a method of obtaining our sensitive law enforcement files is just the most recent effort to threaten, defund our investigations, and the way in which there are contributions to an atmosphere that puts our agents and our prosecutors at risk,” he added.

“It is the longstanding position of the executive branch held by administrations of both parties that an official who asserts the President’s claim of executive privilege cannot be prosecuted for criminal contempt of Congress,” Associate Attorney General Carlos Uriarte wrote in a letter Thursday to GOP Reps. Jim Jordan and James Comer, chairmen of the Committee on the Judiciary and Committee on Oversight and Accountability, respectively.

That “longstanding position,” however, was challenged following Trump’s term in the White House and the Capitol protests Jan. 6, 2021. 

Two individuals who served in the Trump administration and raised executive privilege claims — former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and former Trump adviser Peter Navarro – have been convicted of contempt of Congress and sentenced to serve jail time for their refusal to comply with subpoenas issued by the now-defunct House select committee investigating the Capitol protests.

TRUMP ALLY STEVE BANNON LOSES APPEAL ON CONTEMPT CONVICTION AS HE FIGHTS TO STAY OUT OF PRISON

Bannon, 70, was sentenced to four months in prison in October 2022 and a $6,500 fine for ignoring a congressional subpoena.

Bannon’s appeal was denied last week after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit released a 20-page opinion that said granting Bannon’s appeal would “hamstring Congress’s investigatory authority.”

Bannon claimed he acted on the advice of his legal team and did not intend to break the law. Judge Bradley Garcia wrote the acting on “advice of counsel” defense is “no defense at all.”

The ruling will be appealed, Bannon’s attorney, David Schoen, told Fox News Digital last week.

Schoen noted that Bannon’s attorney at the time he received the subpoena, Robert Costello, advised his client that he was not permitted, as a matter of law, in any way to respond to the notice, saying executive privilege had been raised and that it was not his privilege to waive it. Costello wrote the committee to inform it that Bannon would comply if the panel worked out any privilege issues with former President Trump or if a court ordered him to comply, Schoen said.

Similarly, Navarro, who reported to prison in Miami in March following an order from the U.S. Supreme Court, was charged and convicted with contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with a congressional subpoena demanding his testimony and documents relating to the events of Jan. 6.

Though Navarro is attempting to appeal his contempt of Congress conviction, the court refused to postpone his imprisonment until after the appeal is concluded.

Navarro claimed he could not cooperate with the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack because Trump had invoked executive privilege, an argument that lower courts have rejected.

The lower courts found that Navarro could not actually prove Trump had invoked executive privilege.

Biden’s decision to assert the privilege, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, came at the request of Garland. Jean-Pierre said it was Garland’s suggestion that “law enforcement files like these need to be protected.”

The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced a resolution to hold Garland in contempt of Congress over the Justice Department’s failure to produce the subpoenaed audio recording of Biden’s interview with Hur. The vote advances the measure for a full floor vote.

Hur led the investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents after his departure as vice president under the Obama administration. Hur announced in February that he would not recommend criminal charges against Biden for possessing classified materials after his vice presidency, saying Biden is “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

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Hur wrote in the report that “it would be difficult” to convince a jury to convict Biden of any willful crime, citing his advanced age. 

The findings sparked widespread outrage that Biden was effectively deemed too cognitively impaired to be charged with a crime but could serve as president. Trump has meanwhile slammed the disparity in charges as a reflection of a “sick and corrupt, two-tiered system of justice in our country.“

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo, Elizabeth Elkind, Louis Casiano and Emma Colton contributed to this report.

A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi experienced a “hard landing” on Sunday, according to Iranian state media.

Iranian media, according to multiple reports, said rescue teams were dispatched to the site, though there have been multiple conflicting reports regarding the incident. There has been no official word from the Iranian regime.

This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates.

The Associated Press contributed

Deep blue New York is in play.

In a major throwdown to Democrats, former President Trump will host a campaign rally in the Bronx on Thursday as he sets his sights on flipping the Empire State Red this November, a situation that would have been unfathomable in 2021 when he departed the White House.

Trump’s campaign announced Friday night that Thursday’s rally will take place at 6 p.m. in Crotona Park, a 127 acre public park just blocks away from the boundary line of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s district. The New York Post reports that the campaign has a permit to fit 3,500 people into the space. 

The move comes on the heels of a record-breaking Trump rally which brought up to 100,000 supporters together in the Democratic stronghold of New Jersey last week. 

BIDEN RETURNS TO CAMPAIGN TRAIL AS TRUMP FORCED TO REMAIN IN COURT FOR SECOND DAY OF NEW YORK HUSH MONEY TRIAL

It will mark Trump’s first rally in the state since an upstate Buffalo event in 2016. Biden topped Trump with 76% of the city’s vote in the 2020 election. Statewide, Biden took 60.87% of the vote.

In announcing the rally, Trump’s campaign took several swipes at President Biden’s record over the last three and a half years in relation to crime and inflation.

“Both New York City and the state at large have been ravaged by monumental surges in violent crime as a direct result of Biden’s and Democrats’ pro-criminal policies,” the campaign said in the announcement. “Murders in New York City are up 23.1 percent from 2019 levels, while felony assault is up 35.4 percent. These upticks are incomprehensible and devastating.”

The campaign highlighted Trump’s fondness of the state he once called home until he switched his permanent residence to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida in 2019. Although he has been forced back to stand trial in his “hush money” case and his defamation case with E Jean Carroll.

TRUMP PROSECUTORS’ CASE IS ‘DEAD’ AND CANNOT BE REVIVED, SAYS FORMER MICHAEL COHEN ADVISER

“The Empire State, a place near to President Trump’s heart, has been decimated by Biden,” the statement continues. “President Trump will ease the financial pressures placed on households and re-establish law and order in New York! We can Make America Great Again by tackling lawlessness head-on, ceasing the endless flow of illegal immigrants across our southern border, and reversing the detrimental effects of inflation by restoring people’s wealth.”

The rally announcement has been met with mixed responses. 

Rep. Ritchie John Torres, a Democrat who represents New York’s 15th congressional district where the rally is being held, blasted the former president in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“The South Bronx has no greater enemy than Donald Trump, who is on a mission to dismantle the social safety net on which Bronx families depend for their survival,” Torres said. “Trump is and has always been a fraud.  The South Bronx – the most Democratic area in the nation – will not buy the snake oil that he is selling.

Many business owners in the borough, however, didn’t know that the rally would be taking place when contacted by Fox News Digital this morning.

Liz Adreu, a manager at the Bronx restaurant Chocobar Cortes was one of those unaware but said she would “probably” vote for Trump. 

Reggie O, the owner of Aduanipa African & Caribbean Grill, said he supported Trump’s policies when he was in office, although he didn’t want to say who he would be voting for, adding that he thinks there’s a very real chance that the state could be flipped at some point in the future, adding that his eatery has just opened and hasn’t been on the receiving end of any crime.

Inflation is putting many businesses under financial strain, especially after they weathered the economic storms of pandemic-era lockdowns. Families too are suffering, Trump’s campaign said.

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“New Yorkers have suffered greatly thanks to Biden’s failed policies. With prices in the Empire State up by 17.5 percent since Biden took office, New York families continue to suffer from high inflation on everyday goods,” the statement reads.

Trump last month telegraphed he would be campaigning in the Big Apple when he visited Sanaa Convenience Store in Upper Manhattan. A former clerk, Jose Alba, was attacked by an ex-con there in a July 2022 incident before he infamously stabbed the perp to death in self-defense.

“We’re going to come into New York, we’re making a big play for New York,” Trump told reporters outside. “I love this city, and it’s gone so bad in the last three years, four years, and we’re going to straighten New York out.”

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes confirmed that Rudy Giuliani was indicted in connection to the 2020 election case centered around former President Trump.

“The final defendant was served moments ago. @RudyGiuliani nobody is above the law,” Mayes, a Democrat, wrote on X late Friday, confirming Giuliani is the 18th defendant charged in the state’s fake electors case.

Mayes responded to a since-deleted post by Giuliani that read, “If authorities can’t find me by tomorrow morning: 1. They must dismiss the indictment; 2. They must concede they can’t count votes,” FOX 10 Phoenix reported. The former New York City mayor was celebrating his 80th birthday over the weekend. 

Sharing photos of party-goers and 80th birthday balloons in another post Saturday, Giuliani wrote to his 1.7 million followers, “FAKE NEWS ALERT: Contrary to reports from journalists who weren’t there, our early 80th birthday celebration wasn’t ‘ruined’ or interrupted. It was an incredible night w/ friends, including Steve Bannon & Roger Stone. It felt like a strategy session on how to save America!”

RUDY GIULIANI FILES FOR CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY AFTER BEING ORDERED TO PAY $148M

Giuliani political adviser Ted Goodman, however, confirmed in a statement reported by the Associated Press that Giuliani was served Friday night after his 80th birthday celebration as he was walking to the car.

“We look forward to full vindication soon,” Goodman said in a statement Saturday.

The attorney general’s spokesman Richie Taylor said in an email to the Associated Press on Saturday that Giuliani faces the same charges as the other defendants, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges.

The indictment alleges that Giuliani “pressured” Arizona legislators and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to change the outcome of Arizona’s election and that he was responsible for encouraging Republican electors in Arizona and six other contested states to vote for Trump.Taylor said an unredacted copy of the indictment will be released Monday. He said Giuliani is expected to appear in court Tuesday unless he is granted a delay by the court.

Mark Meadows, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, is among others who have been indicted in the case.

Neither Meadows nor Giuliani were named in the redacted grand jury indictment released earlier because they had not been served with it, but they were readily identifiable based on descriptions in the document. The Arizona attorney general’s office said Wednesday that Meadows had been served and confirmed that he was charged with the same counts as the other named defendants, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges.

With the indictments, Arizona becomes the fourth state where allies of the former president have been charged with using false or unproven claims about voter fraud related to the election.

HUNTER BIDEN SUES RUDY GIULIANI OVER LAPTOP, ACCUSES EX-TRUMP LAWYER OF ‘HACKING’

Among the defendants are 11 Arizona Republicans who submitted a document to Congress declaring that Trump won in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election — including a former state GOP chair, a 2022 U.S. Senate candidate and two sitting state lawmakers. The other defendants are Mike Roman, who was Trump’s director of Election Day operations, and four attorneys accused of organizing an attempt to use fake documents to persuade Congress not to certify Biden’s victory: John Eastman, Christina Bobb, Boris Epshteyn and Jenna Ellis.

Trump himself was not charged but was referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator.

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Giuliani faces other legal proceedings, and a bankruptcy judge this past week said he was “disturbed” about the status of the case and for missed deadlines to file financial disclosure reports. Giuliani filed for bankruptcy after being ordered to pay $148 million to two former election workers for spreading allegedly false information about their role in the 2020 election.

Giuliani was also indicted last year by a grand jury in Georgia. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Biden will deliver the commencement address at Morehouse College on Sunday as protests continue to disrupt graduation ceremonies across the country.

Biden’s speech at the historically Black college is an opportunity to shore up his flagging support among Black voters ahead of the 2024 election. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday that Biden had been working on his speech with senior advisors for several days.

The speech is “an opportunity to lift up and to give an important message to our future leaders,” Jean-Pierre said.

“He’s been working on these remarks for the past couple days, I can assure you, with his senior advisers. He’s taking this incredibly seriously,” Jean-Pierre added. “It will meet the moment. And I think you will hear directly from the president on how he sees obviously the future of this country, and also the community that they represent.”

SEN DURBIN MULLS REVIVING TOOL THAT COULD STYMIE TRUMP NOMINEES IN ANOTHER TERM

The commencement comes just days after Biden announced $16 billion in new funding for historically Black colleges and universities across the country. He mentioned Morehouse by name in remarks about the funding initiative last week.

STEFANIK HITS SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH WITH ETHICS COMPLAINT, ACCUSES HIM OF ELECTION MEDDLING

“Morehouse was founded after our nation’s Civil War to help prepare Black Americans who were formerly enslaved to enter the ministry, earn an education and usher them from slavery to freedom,” Biden said. “The founders of Morehouse understood something fundamental. Education is linked to freedom. Because to be free means to have something that no one can ever take away from you.”

Biden’s appearance comes as anti-Israel protests have overtaken campuses across the country. Morehouse itself has also seen its share of unrest. The student body is divided even about Biden’s appearance at graduation. Dissatisfied students are reportedly attempting to organize a silent protest during Biden’s speech that would see students turn their backs on the president, according to NPR.

STEFANIK HITS BACK AT HOUSE DEMOCRAT PUSHING TO CENSURE HER: ‘DESPERATE FREE FALL’

“I think it’s kind of insulting that our star alumnus is Dr. King, but Biden has been on a tirade in the Middle East,” one student, DeAngelo Fletcher, told the outlet. “Bringing him here — especially during an election year … to get the young Black vote especially, it’s kind of insulting.”

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Hundreds of Morehouse alumni also signed a letter calling on the college to rescind its invitation to Biden earlier this year. Students and faculty at the college have accused Biden of assisting Israeli “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza during the war that was sparked by the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack.

Some of the most vulnerable Democratic Senate incumbents up for re-election in November have looked to highlight their disagreements with President Biden ahead of the pivotal matchups. 

“‘Distancing’ from a party brand is a time-honored tradition in Congress,” explained Jacob Neiheisel, associate professor of political science at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.; and Bob Casey, D-Pa., are embroiled in the most competitive races of the 2024 cycle, with the Democrats up against one of the toughest re-election maps in years. 

“They’re going to sound like MAGA Republicans in their TV ads before it’s all over with,” said Republican strategist Scott Jennings. 

SEN DURBIN MULLS REVIVING TOOL THAT COULD STYMIE TRUMP NOMINEES IN ANOTHER TERM

Last week, Tester came out in favor of a largely Republican-supported illegal immigration measure named after slain Georgia college student Laken Riley. He previously voted against moving forward with the bill, which takes aim at illegal immigrants like the one charged with Riley’s murder, as a potential amendment to a larger bill package. However, Tester did signal at the time he would support it if it came to the floor as a stand-alone bill, despite the unlikelihood of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. allowing that to happen. 

Tester’s office vehemently pushed back on previous claims that he was against the bill. “Claims from Mitch McConnell-backed groups that Senator Tester changed his position on the Laken Riley Act are patently false and another desperate attempt to politicize the border instead of fixing it,” his office told Fox News Digital. 

The Montana senator isn’t the only one to make his differences with Biden clear in the lead-up to the election. 

Rosen, who represents the critical swing state of Nevada, also diverged with Biden publicly on multiple occasions. In particular, Rosen is partially credited with killing the Biden administration’s hopes of confirming the first Muslim federal appellate judge in Adeel Mangi. The Nevada senator came out against the controversial Biden nominee, citing his ties with an allegedly anti-law enforcement organization. 

NPR CHIEF WORKS TO CLEAN UP PUBLIC IMAGE WITH EXTRA EDITORIAL REVIEW, MEETING WITH GOP SENATOR

“This is what they do,” Jennings said. “They spend five and a half years supporting Democrats and Democratic policies that everyone in their state hates. And then they spend six months pretending it never happened.”

The Republican strategist added, though, that they may be hard-pressed to convince voters of their differences with the president, given that they vote in line with him nearly all the time. 

In 2023, Tester voted with Biden the second least among other Democratic senators. However, he still aligned with the president 94.6% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight’s analysis. Brown voted with Biden 97.9% of the time, Rosen 98.6%, and Baldwin and Casey each 99.3%.

“Jon Tester does what’s right for Montana. President Trump signed more than 20 of his bills into law, and over the years Jon has stood up to President Biden on many issues — from securing the border to protecting Montana from burdensome energy regulations,” said Monica Robinson, a spokesperson for Montanans for Tester. 

DEMS USE GOP-OPPOSED IMMIGRATION BILL AS CUDGEL AGAINST REPUBLICANS ON BORDER SECURITY

Matt Keyes, spokesperson for Friends of Sherrod Brown, argued similar motivations for the senator in Ohio. “He has stood up to presidents of both parties to oppose bad trade deals, worked with Republicans to make sure border patrol agents and law enforcement officers have the resources they need, and demanded that the Biden administration crack down on Chinese-made electric vehicles,” Keyes said. 

According to Paul Beck, a political science professor at the Ohio State University, “Biden is unpopular here in Ohio, and to win Brown will have to poll considerably better than Biden will.”

Further, he noted that any moves from Brown to support Republican efforts can only help him. “He will not pay a penalty for supporting a Republican bill, and it may allow him to demonstrate his independence,” Beck said.

“Tammy Baldwin has stood up to Presidents Trump and Biden on behalf of Wisconsin workers,” said Tammy Baldwin for Senate spokesman Andrew Mamo in a statement, echoing the same sentiment. “Wisconsinites trust her because no matter who is in the White House, she fights for them.”

Per Johanna Warshaw, Rosen for Nevada spokesperson, “Jacky Rosen has worked to get things done in a bipartisan way and has never been afraid to disagree with her party leaders to do what’s right for Nevada.”

“Bob Casey is consistently ranked among the most effective and bipartisan senators in Washington and has worked across the aisle to create jobs and lower costs,” Maddy McDaniel, spokesperson for Bob Casey for Senate, said in a statement. 

DEMS SAY KATIE BRITT’S NEW BILL WOULD CREATE ‘DATABASE OF PREGNANT WOMEN’

National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Communications Director Mike Berg told Fox News Digital, “These Democrats are running against everything they voted for now that Joe Biden’s poll numbers have taken a hit,” calling it “very bizarre.” 

Jennings predicted the senators would continue to make efforts to demonstrate their differences with the president, especially with his historically low approval. 

Biden has maintained an average approval rating of 38.7%, Gallup revealed last month. This is historically low, with each of the last nine presidents going back to Dwight Eisenhower boasting higher averages at the same point. 

A Biden campaign spokesperson pointed to the president’s accomplishments, saying in a statement, “Joe Biden created 15 million jobs, capped the price of insulin at $35, and made health care more affordable than ever.”

The spokesperson emphasized that “Democrats across the country will be running on” Biden’s “record of historic results for the American people.”

“Republicans’ MAGA agenda is toxic with voters, as we saw with their failed red wave in 2022 and strong, Democratic overperformance wins in the NY special election and Kentucky gubernatorial,” they added. 

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While the senators are using a strategy that has been relied on historically, not everyone is sure it will continue to work. “As politics continues to nationalize in the U.S., I’m not sure if voters in those states are going to be able to separate the individual from the party,” said Neiheisel. 

Republican strategist Zack Roday, a partner at Ascent Media, claimed the vulnerable Democrats’ positioning ahead of the elections is “nonsense.” 

“These Senate Democrats are a safe vote for Biden every time,” he emphasized. 

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of profiles of potential running mates for presidential candidate Donald Trump on the 2024 Republican Party ticket.

A possible frontrunner on former President Trump’s running mate shortlist has a major “downside” that could make his potential selection a bad bet, multiple campaign and election experts told Fox News Digital.

The horse race among those hoping to be named Trump’s running mate continued this week. Those widely believed to be on the shortlist made the rounds on various media outlets and at events alongside the former president, including North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who some say lacks a “wow factor.”

“He’s not a known commodity. He’s not somebody that, I think, instinctively would fire up the base or fire up Republicans,” GOP strategist Dave Polyansky said, citing concerns over Burgum’s lack of name recognition despite running in the Republican presidential primaries last year.

TRUMP VEEP STAKES: THE PROS AND CONS OF SOUTH DAKOTA GOV. KRISTI NOEM

He argued that, although firing up the base wasn’t the main purpose in a choice for running mate, there was no “overwhelming cry” from Republicans across the country for Burgum to be the pick. 

“Again, that shouldn’t necessarily be a decider, but there’s no wow factor to him,” Polyansky said.

Veteran Republican strategist Karl Rove agreed Burgum’s name recognition was also a problem and that he’s “from a small, heavily Republican state” when the battle for the presidency could come down to who wins over voters in the battlegrounds of Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Wisconsin.

Rove also predicted Burgum’s wealth could “make him a target for the left.”

WATCH:  POSSIBLE TRUMP VP PICK MAKES MAJOR PREDICTION ABOUT BLACK VOTERS AS BIDEN BLEEDS SUPPORT

Republican strategist Erin Perrine told Fox “the downsides to Burgum’s selection are not deeply controversial given other possible selections the former president could make” but agreed with Rove that Burgum hailing from a reliably red state with a small population wouldn’t impact the electoral map.

“Some might argue that other potential candidates could bring more expertise, higher visibility or diversity to the ticket, leading to doubts about Burgum’s suitability as a VP nominee,” she said. She added Burgum declaring last year he wouldn’t serve as Trump’s running mate, as well as the possibility he might face intensified media scrutiny regarding his absence from North Dakota over the past year, would likely complicate his selection.

“It doesn’t take much for the media to pounce, and campaigning as a sitting governor has proven difficult for others running for other offices before,” she said.

Others were more blunt when it came to the possibility of Burgum’s selection, including a source close to the Trump campaign who said there was “more downside than upside there,” citing the concerns over his name recognition and being from North Dakota.

“If I had to rank him, I’d put him in the top five, maybe five or six, but not any higher,” the source said.

GOP pollster Scott Rasmussen simply told Fox, “I see no reason why Gov. Burgum should even be in the discussion other than media speculation. The fact that Trump featured him at the recent rally is interesting, but I suspect the governor will play some other role in the campaign.”

Burgum, despite those concerns, does have a number of strong qualities experts said could provide a boost to Trump, including his record as the chief executive of a state and as a business leader.

TRUMP’S POTENTIAL RUNNING MATES TO COMPETE FOR APPROVAL AT MAJOR CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE AS SPECULATION SWIRLS

“Burgum is a successful two-term governor of a major energy- and agricultural-producing state who’s championed education reform, tax cuts and government reform,” Rove said. “He’s also built a tech company — Great Plains Software — in the Midwest heartland, which he sold to Microsoft, becoming a top executive with the company before entering politics.”

Polyansky said one of the most “compelling” reasons to have Burgum’s name on the ticket was because of his television presence.

“He’s proven himself over the last month to be a great, very agile and pretty effective communicator,” he said. “Burgum’s shown that he can do some good in terms of his ability to communicate and drive a message.”

Perrine said Burgum’s “no-drama, no-nonsense demeanor has boosted the economy and safety of North Dakota,” and that being a “businessman-turned-governor” was “a mirror to Trump that the former president would appreciate.” 

The source close to Trump’s campaign praised the governor as “a vote getter.”

“He’s a decent man,” the source said.

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A number of other big names have also been floated to join Trump on the Republican ticket, including South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

Trump, who spent most of his week sitting on trial in a New York City courtroom while President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are free to hit the campaign trail, is still weighing his running mate options. He suggested last week he might even wait until the July Republican National Convention in Milwaukee to name his pick.

Fox News Digital has reached out to representatives of Burgum for comment.

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Former President Trump fired up supporters at the National Rifle Association’s Annual Meeting in Texas on Saturday, calling for President Biden to take a “drug test,” putting “radical” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on blast and encouraging gun enthusiasts to get out and vote.

The crowd at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas roared as Trump received the NRA’s endorsement before he took the stage.

Trump thanked the “great patriots” for the endorsements, but reprimanded the “rebellious bunch” for not voting.

“But one thing I’ll say, and I say it as friends, we’ve got to get gun owners to vote because you know what? I don’t know what it is. Perhaps it’s a form of rebellion because you’re a rebellious people, aren’t you?,” Trump said. “But gun owners don’t vote. What is that all about?”

“If gun owners would vote, we would swamp them at levels that nobody’s ever seen before,” he said. “So, I think you’re a rebellious bunch. So let’s be rebellious and vote this time.”

BIDEN CAMPAIGN HIGH ON DOJ’S MARIJUANA SHIFT, ‘SMOKES’ TRUMP FOR INACTION DURING HIS TERM

‘Radical’ RFK Jr.

Trump turned his attention to Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., telling NRA-supporters to not “waste your vote” and that he is a part of the “radical left.”

“RFK, Jr. — I call him Junior by the way — he’s radical left. Don’t think about it. Don’t waste your vote,” Trump said. “We need a conservative person with common sense. This guy is radical left who destroyed New York.”

“Actually, he’s a disaster. He reminds you of this fly that’s driving me crazy up here,” said Trump, who swatted at a fly that flitted around the stage. “This fly is brutal. I don’t like flies!”

Trump said that RFK Jr. had “no policy for anything.”

“But RFK Jr. calls you a terrorist group. You know, he calls you a terrorist group,” Trump said. “[You] can’t vote for him. You can’t. You know, somebody said, well, they like his policy on vaccines the other day. He said, no, no, he’ll go for the vaccine. He’s nice. He’s got no policy or anything. He’s radical left. He always has been.”

“We can’t waste any votes,” he added. “We have to make sure we win.”

‘High as a kite’

The Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee set his sights on President Biden, beginning with the usual jabs at Biden’s cognitive ability, and saying that Biden was as “high as a kite” during his State of the Union address in March. 

WARNING SIGNS FOR TRUMP, BIDEN, AS THEY CAREEN TOWARD DEBATES 

“Now, he did that State of the Union the other day. He was high as a kite,” Trump said. “So, I think we should go for drug tests on the debate. Yeah, we’re going to call for drug tests.”

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Earlier Saturday, Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee announced the creation of a new “Gun Owners for Trump” coalition that includes gun rights activists and individuals in the firearms’ industry.

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House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., will blast President Biden as she seeks to reassure Israel during a speech at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, Sunday morning.

Her prepared remarks were obtained by Fox News Digital ahead of the address. Stefanik will be the highest-ranking House member to visit Israel since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. She will be introduced by the Israeli speaker, according to her office.

The New York Republican is also planning to meet with high-level government officials and pay her respects to locations attacked by Hamas in October. She plans to tout her decades-long support for the Jewish state as a senior member of the House Armed Services and House Intelligence committees.

In her speech, Stefanik calls herself “a lifelong admirer, supporter and friend of Israel and the Jewish people.”

STEFANIK HITS SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH WITH ETHICS COMPLAINT, ACCUSES HIM OF ELECTION MEDDLING

“I am lucky to have had the privilege of traveling here many times before, but I must confess that this time feels different,” Stefanik’s speech states. “The stakes feel higher. Our sense of moral, patriotic duty feels heightened, renewed.”

In the remarks, Stefanik praises former President Trump for his relationship with Israel during his administration, and she criticizes Biden for his administration’s controversial measures during the Israel-Hamas war. In November 2023, the Biden administration extended a waiver that allowed Iran to access $10 billion previously in escrow, prompting widespread criticism. 

The White House recently paused a weapons shipment to Israel out of concern about an invasion of Rafah, before deciding to move forward with the sale earlier this week.

“There is no excuse for an American president to block aid to Israel, aid that was duly passed by the Congress, or to ease sanctions on Iran, paying a $6 billion ransom to the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, or to dither and hide while our friends fight for their lives. No excuse,” the speech states. “Full stop.”

STEFANIK HITS BACK AT HOUSE DEMOCRAT PUSHING TO CENSURE HER: ‘DESPERATE FREE FALL’

The Republican leader’s address to the Knesset will express support for “every measure to aid Israel that has come before the U.S. Congress,” and tout her history as “a leading proponent and partner to President Trump in his historic support for Israeli independence and security.”

“If I leave you with one message today, it’s this: The majority of Americans support you, and we always will since President Truman’s recognition of Israel 11 minutes after David Ben-Gurion declared Israel’s independence 76 years and 5 days ago,” the address says. “America stands with Israel.”

Before concluding her speech, the politician will take aim at Ivy League universities for their responses to chaotic protests and anti-Israel encampments.

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“We must not let the extremism in ‘elite’ corners conceal the deep, abiding love for Israel among the American people,” the speech adds. “Most Americans feel a strong connection to your people. They have opened their hearts to you in this dark hour.”

The Republican Party of Minnesota tossed its support behind Royce White, a former NBA player and Black Lives Matter protest leader turned GOP Senate candidate, in his bid to oust Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

The state party’s decision to back White came at the Minnesota GOP convention in St. Paul’s RiverCentre on Saturday.

White, a former professional basketball player, was introduced on stage at the convention by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

White received 67% of the vote on the first ballot at Saturday’s convention to receive an endorsement from the party to challenge Klobuchar, who has represented Minnesota in the upper chamber for nearly two decades.

TRUMP PREDICTS ‘JACKED UP’ BIDEN AT UPCOMING DEBATES, BLASTS BIDENOMICS IN BATTLEGROUND SPEECH

“I’m a ‘We the People’ guy through and through,” White told Minnesota’s Star Tribune on Saturday.

White unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination to challenge “Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar for Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District during the 2022 election cycle, losing to fellow Republican Cicely Davis in the primary election by more than 1,000 votes.

Hundreds of Minnesota Republicans — several of whom held signs that read “The People Are Coming” — packed into the room where White delivered a speech after receiving the state party’s endorsement.

Prior to joining the Republican Party and running for Senate, White led Black Lives Matter protests in Minneapolis at the height of the controversy surrounding the death of George Floyd.

The GOP Senate hopeful also has made controversial remarks in the past, including one where he claimed to be a Christian and a “real Jew” while responding to a social media user.

“Shut up shill. I’m a Christian and Jew (Real Jew)… I can smell the [bulls–t] in this tweet from a mile away. It is weird to see a bunch of people deny that Black Jews exist and could theoretically be here in America. What in the rewritten history is this? Lol,” White wrote in a November 2022 tweet.

During the same month, White appeared to praise notorious antisemite Louis Farrakhan and rebuked Black people who had “sold out” in a social media post, writing, “The Minister Louis Farrakhan is very gracious in his age and wisdom. He lives and speaks with a certain love and empathy for all Black ppl, even when he knows they’ve sold out. I hold no such quarter for them. I’m not the judge, but I will speak the tough word. Stop Selling Out!”

SEN. KLOBUCHAR HIT FOR 2 AM POST TAKING CREDIT FOR PASSAGE OF $1.2 TRILLION SPENDING BUDGET: ‘YOU’RE WELCOME’

Amid Israel’s war with Hamas, White took to X in December and claimed, “Israel has a right to exist but not to be the lynchpin of New World Order.”

“I pray my Jewish brothers and sisters stop letting their identity be used to justify globalism. . . . The same way I pray Black people stop letting their identity be used to justify marxism. This unwavering support for Israel from MAGA, knowing full well that Israel and a World War II is used to call anybody who is a nationalist, a fascist or a Nazi, really has me stumped,” White wrote at the time. “Nationalism is not synonymous with Fascism or Nazism, I’m sick of hearing it. Especially from a country that takes our tax money to be ethno-national. Israel has a right to exist but not to be the lynchpin of New World Order.”

White’s campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the support he received from the Minnesota Republican Party on Saturday, or his past remarks.

On his campaign website, White lists four goals he hopes to achieve or build on if he’s elected, including “Term Limits,” “No Taxes (American jubilee),” “American Manufactering,” and “Energy.” No additional explanation for how White will accomplish those goals was shared on the website.

A Republican operative who attended the Minnesota GOP convention Saturday said she expected delegates to do a better job of selecting a candidate to take on Klobuchar and support former President Trump’s re-election bid.

“I truly believe at the end of the day that the Minnesota GOP handed Amy Klobuchar a win on a silver platter,” the Republican operative told Fox News Digital.

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The operative placed some of the blame on the state party’s nominating committee, which allowed White to be on the convention’s endorsement ballot as “qualified, with reservations.”

White is one of several Republicans who were seeking the GOP nomination. Minnesota holds an August 13 primary election, and the deadline to register for the primary is June 4. The winner of that election will go on to face off against Klobuchar, the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee, in the state’s general election on November 4.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan branded former President Trump a racist, a sexist and a homophobe as he urged his own Labour Party to do more to “call him out.”

Ahead of the presidential election in November, the U.K.’s Labour Party appears to be working to strengthen its relationship with Republicans should Trump take back the White House. However, Khan, a fierce Trump critic, insists the party “shouldn’t be literally rolling out a red carpet for a state visit.”

Khan’s remarks on the former president came after foreign affairs chief David Lammy appeared to extend an olive branch earlier this month while insisting Trump is “often misunderstood” when it comes to policy and “wants Europeans to do more to ensure a better defended Europe.”

LONDON MAYOR UNDER FIRE FOR REPORTEDLY SNUBBING QUEEN STATUE IN FAVOR OF ART CELEBRATING TRANS PROSTITUTES

Rejecting Lammy’s position, Khan told Politico, “I’m quite clear, I understand, on Trump. He’s a racist. He’s a sexist. He’s a homophobe. And it’s very important, particularly when you’ve got a special relationship, that you treat them as a best mate.

“If my best mate was a racist, or a sexist or a homophobe, I’d call him out, and I’d explain to him why those views are wrong,” the London mayor added.

MAYOR SADIQ KHAN RIDICULED FOR BLAMING CELL PHONES WHEN CHALLENGED ON KNIFE CRIMES IN LONDON

Khan, who was recently re-elected to a third term leading Great Britain’s most populous city, told the outlet he worries “about a Donald Trump presidency.”

“You know, I’ve been speaking to governors from America. I’ve been speaking to mayors from America. Of course, we’ll have a relationship, whoever the president is. But we shouldn’t be literally rolling out a red carpet for a state visit,” he said. 

“It’s really important that we, of course, have good relations with Democrats and Republicans. But I lost count of the amount of Republicans I’ve spoken to who are also worried about a Trump presidency.”

Khan and Trump have a history of feuding and not seeing eye to eye on a number of topics, including immigration.

In 2019, prior to his arrival in London for a state visit, Trump referred to Khan as a “stone cold loser” who is “very dumb.”

Responding to those comments in his interview with Politico, Khan said: “I’ve got more latitude as a mayor to just to say what I feel about Trump, and I make this point. He called me a ‘stone cold loser.’ I’ve won three. How many has he won?”

Khan’s remarks come as the Labour Party is expected to return to power after 14 years in a U.K. general election that will take place in the coming months.

Lammy, who has criticized Trump in the past as a “neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath,” recently traveled to Washington, D.C., where he met with a number of Democrats and several Trump allies, including Ohio GOP Sen. JD Vance and South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham.

“Were his words in office shocking? Yes, they were,” Lammy told Politico of the former president. “Would we have used them? No. But U.S. spending on European defense actually grew under President Trump, as did the defense spending of the wider alliance during his tenure.”

Lammy also argued Trump helped matters by pushing European nations to increase their own defense spending.

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“When he began his campaign, only four countries were spending their 2% of GDP. The number was 10 by the time he left office. And it is 18 today.” Lammy added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Recent polls of swing state voters showed former President Trump with an edge over President Biden in six key battleground states where he was narrowly defeated four years ago. 

Now, some of those voters who supported Biden in 2020 are explaining why, looking ahead to the 2024 election, they want Trump back in office.

Frederick Westbrook, a retired Las Vegas hotel worker, told The New York Times in an interview that voting for Biden to kick Trump out of office was “the biggest mistake of my life.” 

“As a Black man in America, I felt he was doing unjust things,” Westbrook said of Trump. “He’s got a big mouth, he’s not a nice person.” But while his view of Trump has not changed in the last four years, Westbrook told the Times his cost of living has risen too high under Biden’s watch.

TRUMP AHEAD OF BIDEN IN THESE KEY SWING STATES: POLL

“Everything is just about the economy,” said Westbrook, who now drives for Lyft to support his fixed retirement income. “I don’t really trust Donald Trump at all. I just think housing, food, my car, my insurance, every single piece of living has gone up.”

The view that Americans are not better off today than they were four years ago is shared by others who were among the 14% of survey respondents who said they won’t vote for Biden a second time, according to polls released Monday by The New York Times, Siena College and the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

The survey results and follow-up interviews reported in the Times on Friday suggest discontent over the economy and the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, and a deterioration in support for Biden by younger, Black and Hispanic voters, “threaten to unravel the president’s Democratic coalition.” 

Jaredd Johnson, a 25-year-old voter who works in marketing in Atlanta, told the Times he had hoped Biden would restore the country to a pre-pandemic normal, but doesn’t think he has. Despite his reservations about Trump, he said he plans to vote for the presumptive Republican nominee in November.

‘WARNING SIGNS FLASHING’: BIDEN, TRUMP STRUGGLE TO LOCK UP BASE VOTERS AHEAD OF FIRST DEBATE

While Jonson said he understands the importance of supporting Ukraine and Israel, supplying Gaza with aid and helping immigrants, conversations with his friends and family “are suddenly less about what’s happening overseas and more about how we are struggling here, too.”

Christopher Sheffield, 61, a counselor for veterans in Thomasville, Georgia, told the Times that whatever concerns he may have about Trump’s attitude toward race are not as important as crises abroad that could lead to another world war.

“I’m an African American — of course I worry about racism,” he told the paper. “But guess what? I’ve been dealing with that my whole life.”

Biden is “a good guy,” Sheffield said. “But when I look at him, he looks weak. With North Korea, Putin, and all those boys ready to act, I think they will be a little bit more reluctant to challenge Trump than they would with Biden.” He said he would vote for Trump in November.

TRUMP PREDICTS ‘JACKED UP’ BIDEN AT UPCOMING DEBATES, BLASTS BIDENOMICS IN BATTLEGROUND SPEECH

Fox News political analyst Gianno Caldwell said it’s no surprise that Black voters like Westbrook and Sheffield are moving away from Biden and towards Trump.

“The pundits and analysts view the Black voters supporting Trump as an anomaly, and they are wrong,” Caldwell said. “Many Black voters were browbeaten into voting for Biden in 2020 by the media and celebrity cultural figures like Charlemagne the God with promises and predictions of a presidency that would serve the Black community well, and Black folks now realize they have been bamboozled by the left and media.” 

“Considering their economic conditions under the Biden administration are now far worse than under Trump, many feel they have no choice but to support the man who actually got the job done and made many feel more financially secure,” he added.

Other voters told the Times that persistent inflation — which clocked in at 3.4% in April, down from the 2022 high of 9% but still well above the Federal Reserve’s target 2% rate — illegal immigration and Biden’s decision to withhold an arms shipment to Israel demonstrate a need for big change in America.

“All of our core values are gone, gone, and I’m just not pleased at all,” said Amelia Earwood, 47, a safety trainer at the U.S. Postal Service in Georgia.

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She told the Times she thinks Trump is “a horrible human being,” but said, “I’m voting on his policies, and I think that he could straighten this country out, while Biden made a ginormous mess out of it.”

The Trump and Biden campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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

EXCLUSIVE: A Republican considered to be among the frontrunners in the race to be former President Donald Trump’s running mate is making a major prediction about Black voters as President Biden continues to bleed support among the traditionally Democrat-supporting community.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the only Black Republican in the Senate and a staunch supporter of Trump’s third White House bid, told Fox News Digital on Friday that Biden’s planned weekend campaign swing aimed at shoring up support among the Black community in Georgia and Michigan is actually just about “pandering” to a community worse off under his leadership, and that they would instead show up for Trump in “historic” numbers.

“For 52 consecutive paychecks, Black folks, like the rest of Americans, lost spending power, because inflation was higher than wage increases. What does that mean? It means devastation to single moms like the one that raised me,” Scott said. 

POTENTIAL TRUMP RUNNING MATE RIPS BIDEN’S OUTREACH TO BLACK VOTERS: ‘ALWAYS PANDERING’

“The one thing that we can expect from the Biden administration is more of the same. More misery, more devastation, more catastrophes. That’s one of the reasons why you see so many Black voters shifting to the GOP under Trump. Why? Because Donald Trump delivered,” he said. 

The Biden campaign announced early Friday that the president would be attending an event in Atlanta on Saturday focused on engaging Black voters before delivering the commencement at Morehouse College, a renowned historically Black men’s liberal arts college, on Sunday.

The president will then meet with small-business owners in Detroit later on Sunday before delivering an address that evening in Michigan to the NAACP.

Biden’s re-election team highlighted in its announcement that “no administration has delivered for Black America like President Biden and Vice-President Harris.” 

“This campaign will not take a single voter for granted,” Biden campaign senior adviser Trey Baker wrote in the memo. “We are not, and will not, parachute into these communities at the last minute, expecting their vote.”

BIDEN CAMPAIGN HIGH ON DOJ’S MARIJUANA SHIFT, ‘SMOKES’ TRUMP FOR INACTION DURING HIS TERM

A slew of polls this spring — both nationally and in the key swing states — have indicated that Trump has gained support with Black voters at Biden’s expense, something Scott said is being driven by the positive economy for Black Americans under Trump’s administration.

“We had the strongest, most powerful and inclusive economy in the history of the country in my lifetime. Unemployment for Black folks [was] under 6% for the first time ever; the wages growing at the bottom faster than the top. He also supported my opportunity zones, bringing nearly $70 billion committed to the poorest communities,” Scott said, referencing his signature legislation that provided more investment opportunities in low-income areas.

“[Biden] sometimes says, ‘You can’t be Black if you don’t vote for me.’ Or he’ll say something as asinine as ‘Republicans want to put you back in chains.’ But last time I checked, the only person restraining Black economic growth is Joe Biden and Bidenomics. So please don’t pander to people smart enough to smell what you’re cooking, and it’s a rat,” he said.

TRUMP VEEP STAKES: THE PROS AND CONS OF SOUTH DAKOTA GOV. KRISTI NOEM

“Historic shifts towards President Trump are already happening. Here’s what we know: Without question, the pandering tour is because without the Black vote, there is no Democrat party,” Scott later added.

Scott also addressed Trump’s ongoing trial in New York City, arguing that it is politically driven, as well as the qualities his future running mate needed to possess.

Those traits included “someone who understands the House and Senate,” plus “someone who understands being a business owner in the private sector,” and “someone who understands the pain and the misery of rising from the bottom and going to the top” — all traits Scott himself possesses, considering his upbringing and business experience before his time in Congress.

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“There’s no doubt that it would be such an honor for anyone to even be in the conversation. But this should not be about me or any other potential VP, as they describe us. This should only be about America’s future and who gets us there the fastest. That’s Donald Trump,” Scott said when asked whether he was still open to being Trump’s running mate should he be approached about the role.

“Whatever I can do to make sure we have four more years of Donald Trump, count me in,” he added.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Biden campaign for comment.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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

EXCLUSIVE: The family of a little girl who died at the hands of an illegal immigrant in October is fighting to prevent similar tragedies in the future by making a change at the highest levels of government.

Three-year-old Maddie Hines was killed when Gabriel Arteaga, who was being sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and did not have a driver’s license, allegedly ran a stop sign and plowed into the side of the family’s SUV.

Maddie’s death is what’s driving her godfather, Republican state Rep. Stewart Jones, to run for Congress and take action to fix the border crisis, including deporting the millions of people residing in the U.S. illegally. His run is being backed by Maddie’s mother, Chelsey, who credits God for providing peace to her family in the aftermath of the tragedy.

‘LOW AND VILE’: WIFE OF WOUNDED VETERAN IN BITTER SENATE PRIMARY UNLEASHES ON GOP OPPONENT’S ‘DISGUSTING’ ADS

“The main reason I am running for the 3rd Congressional District, is because my goddaughter, Maddie Hines, died senselessly and needlessly due to the actions of an illegal alien,” Jones, who has served in the state legislature for five years, told Fox News Digital in an interview alongside Chelsey. “This is really a personal issue to me. I’m going to go to Washington and fix this problem and secure our border.”

Jones and his wife have a nearly two-decade-long relationship with the Hines family, who also serve as godparents to their children. He says that, although “Heaven forbid” anything happen to him and his wife, he knows his children will be taken care of.

Chelsey described to Fox what unfolded on the day of the crash, including how Maddie told her she loved her from the back seat right before their vehicle was struck, killing the child instantly. She said Stewart, who she calls “Stew,” was the first to arrive at the scene after the first responders, and that he rode in the ambulance with Maddie and prayed over her. 

“It’s been really hard, but very peaceful. I feel like God has been with us through it all,” she said. “I just felt like that day, time stood still. It literally stood still. People talk about that all the time, but I immediately felt God’s love, his peace. It was like an eerie — You just can’t explain it unless you go through it.”

BIDEN CAMPAIGN HIGH ON DOJ’S MARIJUANA SHIFT, ‘SMOKES’ TRUMP FOR INACTION DURING HIS TERM

“To go through something like that and to have someone like them by our side has been amazing. Stew has gone above and beyond, and I feel like that’s his type of personality. Stew, when he sets his mind and his heart on something, and he sees that it needs to change, or he sees that something needs to get done, he gets the job done,” she said. 

“And so to think that he is running for Congress, I’m like, of course you’re running for Congress, and of course you’re going to be amazing at it. I have no doubt in my mind,” she added.

Arteaga, 25, was charged with one count of reckless homicide and not having a driver’s license. The judge presiding over the case revoked his $50,000 bail after he was informed ICE was looking to take him, ensuring he would be available to stand trial, the Clinton Chronicle reported.

Both Chelsey and Stewart lamented the situation at the southern border that led to Maddie’s death, and said there were too many stories just like theirs going untold. They also blasted politicians and others who’ve dismissed any notion of there being a border crisis.

TRUMP’S POTENTIAL RUNNING MATES TO COMPETE FOR APPROVAL AT MAJOR CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE AS SPECULATION SWIRLS

“I’ve seen interviews where people are laughing, and they are saying the border is not an issue,” Chelsey said. “It’s not an issue because it doesn’t apply to you, and you have not become that statistic yet. And until your family goes through what we have gone through, the loss of a child — it’s something we deal with every single day.” 

Jones vowed that, if elected, he would work to deport all illegal immigrants in the U.S., as well as end the programs and benefits he says are driving many of them to come.

“We’ve got to go after any kind of nonprofit, any kind of program that’s supporting and encouraging this illegal activity,” he said. “Second and probably most importantly, we’ve got to complete the wall.” 

“The third piece to this puzzle is we’ve got to work with local law enforcement in order to identify and deport those who are here illegally,” he added. “I want to make sure that those who have committed crimes stand trial, and the ones that haven’t, that are here illegally, we need to get them out of here.”

‘SQUAD’ MEMBER DEFENDS ‘RIVER TO THE SEA’ PHRASE INTERPRETED AS CALLING FOR ‘EXTERMINATION’ OF JEWS

Jones faces a crowded GOP primary field, where the winner will likely become the next member of Congress representing the district considering its strong Republican leanings.

Chelsey says Jones’ integrity and character are what make him the best choice among the candidates, and that she gave the approval for him to take Maddie’s story and use it to make a difference.

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“I completely believe that God has blessed him and God has put him here … I feel God has orchestrated everything up to this moment, because he knew that Stew would be the only one that could carry this all the way, and he could get the job done,” she said. 

“Maddie, even though she’s not here, this legacy, and what we stand for, will continue to keep going. And I feel like Stew’s the one who can carry that,” she added.

The primary will be held Tuesday, June 11. If no candidate reaches a majority, the top two candidates will head to a runoff to be held on June 25.

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

As they prepare for their face-off on the debate stage next month, warning signals are flashing for President Biden and former President Donald Trump in their 2024 election rematch – as they both appear to struggle to lock up their base voters.

More than two months after she dropped out of the Republican presidential nomination race, zombie candidate Nikki Haley is still grabbing sizable support in the GOP primaries at the expense of Trump.

And Biden is continuing to deal with a persistent “uncommitted” vote protesting the president’s support for Israel in its war with Hamas in Gaza.

“You going to see most Democrats and most Republicans come home. But there are so many warning signs flashing in these primaries,” David Kochel, a longtime Republican consultant and veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, told Fox News Digital.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS NATIONAL POLL SHOWS IN THE BIDEN-TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION REMATCH

One week after Haley won 22% of the vote in Indiana’s GOP presidential primary, where independents and Democrats could vote, it was supposed to be a different story on Tuesday as Maryland, Nebraska, and West Virginia held mostly closed Republican contests.

But according to unofficial results, Haley grabbed 21% support in Maryland and 18% in Nebraska.

TRUMP AHEAD OF BIDEN IN THESE CRUCIAL PRESIDENTIAL BATTLEGROUND STATES 

And Haley performed strongest in suburban areas in both states, as she also did in earlier primaries held after she suspended her presidential bid. It’s another potential general election problem for Trump, who is currently making history as the first former or current president to stand trial in a criminal case.

“It might just be that Republicans want one last chance to express their dissatisfaction with the nominee and they’ll come home,” Kochel, who remained neutral in the 2024 GOP nomination race, said. 

“But if I’m running the Trump campaign, particularly as I look towards the vice presidential nomination, I would be trying to figure out anyway I could to reassure the Haley voters that we’re going to listen to them and not just run a base only strategy,” he suggested.

Biden also saw a red flag in Tuesday’s primaries, as 10% of votes in the Democratic presidential contest in Maryland were “uncommitted,” according to unofficial and incomplete tabulations. It’s the latest example of far left voters expressing their dissatisfaction with the president’s Mideast policies.

TRUMP TRIES TO EXPAND THE MAP BY FLIPPING THESE BLUE STATES RED 

The primaries were held on the eve of a proposal by Biden and his re-election campaign to hold presidential debates with Trump in June and early September – with a vice presidential debate over the summer – to which Trump quickly agreed.

Mark Penn, the longtime Democratic pollster, former top political adviser to former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Fox News contributor, pointed to Biden’s anemic poll numbers in the key battleground states as he argued the president’s debate proposal came out of weakness.

“You don’t want to debate when you’re ahead. You want to avoid debates at all costs,” Penn said in an interview on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.” “Obviously it’s uphill for President Biden, or he wouldn’t be debating in the first place.”

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National surveys for months have indicated that many Americans are anything but thrilled with the rematch between the 81-year-old Democratic incumbent and his 77-year-old predecessor in the White House.

“You’re going to put the most unpopular politicians we’ve ever seen run against each other in front of 80 million people on a debate stage. One of them is famously bombastic and toxic and loose with the facts. The other one is barely able to get out a sentence. He had six jump cuts in a 13-second video they put out today,” Kochel said as he pointed to Trump and specifically to Biden’s video proposing the debates. 

And Kochel predicted that the debates may “reinforce to the country how dissatisfied they are with these choices.”

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

Long-simmering tensions within the House GOP are poised to inflame as members of Congress find themselves in the throes of the election season.

Ideological, political and even personal differences that have seen Republicans’ razor-thin House majority wracked with chaos in the 118th Congress are now manifesting in lawmakers endorsing primary challengers against their incumbent colleagues.

“I think every member should worry about their own race and not get involved in other people’s races,” Rep. Will Timmons, R-S.C., whose own primary challenger is backed by several members of the House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News Digital. “But unfortunately, there’s a domino effect when, you know, he makes decisions to get involved in other people’s races. It’s only logical that there will be a countervailing force.”

Timmons, who is being backed by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was referring to Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va., who has endorsed several Republican challengers running to the right of current members.

TRUMP ALLIES POUR INTO NYC COURTHOUSE TO ‘SUPPORT THEIR FRIEND,’ SAY THEY’RE NOT COORDINATING WITH CAMPAIGN

Good himself is facing a GOP opponent who has seen support from his colleagues. A fundraiser invitation from late March, previously obtained by Fox News Digital, for Virginia state Sen. John McGuire’s campaign also included GOP lawmakers like House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Reps. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., and Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas.

He’s also being opposed by Defending Main Street, a super PAC affiliated with the pragmatic House GOP group known as the Main Street Caucus.

“I’ll just say we can’t change Washington with the people who are here in Washington that are part of the problem,” Good told Fox News Digital when asked about the situation with his endorsements and those against him. “And I will say that the endorsements of challengers to incumbents started on the other end of the party, started with the liberal moderate members, the establishment RINOs, endorsing against me.”

OHIO PURGES ‘NON-CITIZENS’ FROM STATE VOTER ROLLS, CALLS ON BIDEN ADMIN FOR DATA AHEAD OF 2024 ELECTION

Another notable race where Good and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., have involved themselves is Texas’ 23rd congressional district, where Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, is facing a runoff primary against social media influencer and Second Amendment activist Brandon Herrera. Gaetz and Good have both backed Herrera, while Gonzales has the backing of the speaker and other fellow Texas Republican lawmakers.

“I won all 29 counties in the primary, and I’m gonna win all 29 counties in the runoff,” Gonzales told Fox News Digital. “Anyone who’s ever run against me has never served in public office. So bring it on.”

When pressed about members endorsing his opponent, he said, “If Matt Gaetz spent as much time trying to defeat the Democrats as he does on his eyebrows, we would be in a great position.”

Gaetz responded in a statement to Fox News Digital, “I would love to spend all of my time fighting only the Democrats, but if Republicans like Tony Gonzales are going to vote like Democrats and act like Democrats, I’ll fight them too. And anyone who gets close to me sees that my eyebrows are quite unkempt.”

FOX NEWS POLL: ABORTION, ECONOMY, AND BORDER SECURITY ARE TOP DEAL-BREAKERS IN 2024 ELECTIONS

Other GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital expressed dismay at their colleagues’ infighting. 

“I find it outrageous. As somebody from the business world, you go out of business doing things that way,” Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., told Fox News Digital.

He said of Gonzales’ race, “That’s a difficult district for Republicans to win. I mean, Tony is like the perfect guy for it. So the idea that we’re trying to out-red him in a primary, I think is just foolish because you’re gonna lose Tony, and then you’re gonna get someone who doesn’t fit with the district, and we’re gonna lose that.”

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“And then, you know, going after Good, I mean, I don’t think that’s right, either,” Meuser added.

Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., told Fox News Digital of the infighting, “I think it’s very unfortunate.”

“I think it’s very, very sad that we have Republicans caring more about fighting against Republicans than the real true challenge we have because of what Democratic rule is,” he said.

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Friday spoke to Fox News about the upside-down American flag seen flying outside his home in the days following the Jan. 6 Capitol protests, saying his wife displayed it in response to insults directed at her from a neighbor. 

Alito weighed in after The New York Times first reported on the story Thursday, in which it said the upside-down flag — a symbol adopted by some Trump supporters disputing the results of the 2020 presidential election — appeared outside Alito’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, on Jan. 17, 2021. 

Alito said the saga in his neighborhood began in the days around Jan. 6, 2021, when a neighbor living down the street put up a sign that read “F— Trump” about 50 feet away from a children’s bus stop. 

He said his wife, Martha-Ann, then spoke with those neighbors about the sign and the conversation was not well received. 

JUSTICE ALITO WARNS COLLEGE STUDENTS THAT ‘SUPPORT FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS DECLINING’ 

Alito told Fox News those neighbors then put up a sign directly attacking his wife and personally blaming her for the events that transpired on Jan. 6 at the nation’s capital. 

He said that during a walk in the neighborhood with his wife, one person who lived at the property with the signage then got into an argument with her — at one point calling her derogatory language “including the C-word.” 

MEDICAL SCHOOLS ARE ‘SKIRTING SCOTUS’ RULING AGAINST AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, REPORT SHOWS 

Following that incident, Alito said Martha-Ann was distraught and decided to make some sort of statement by hanging the American flag upside down outside their home. 

Alito told Fox News he had no role in the flag decision, and it was flying outside their property only “for a short time.” 

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He added that he felt he had no right or ability to control or order around his wife and that some neighbors on his street have been “very political.” 

The story surrounding the flag outside Alito’s home comes as the Supreme Court is deciding on former President Trump’s immunity case. 

West Virginia high school track athlete Adaleia Cross is joining a national Title IX lawsuit after alleging a transgender 13-year-old teammate sexually harassed her during practices and in the school’s locker room.

B.P.J., which is how court documents refer to the transgender athlete at the center of the allegations and another West Virginia lawsuit, allegedly made “several offensive and inappropriate sexual comments” to Cross throughout the school shot put season. The interactions allegedly escalated to more “aggressive, vile, and disturbing” comments during Cross’s final year of middle school. B.P.J is a biological male who identifies as a female.

“During the end of that year, about two to three times per week, B.P.J. would look at me” and make a sexually explicit vulgar comment, Cross alleged in the lawsuit filed May 8. “There were usually other girls around who heard this. I heard B.P.J. say the same thing to my other teammates, too.”

RED STATE AGS SUE BIDEN ADMIN TO HALT ‘RADICAL TRANSGENDER IDEOLOGY’ THREATENING ‘SAFETY OF WOMEN AND GIRLS’

Cross alleged additional “vulgar comments” caused deep distress and affected her ability to continue to participate in track and field.

“B.P.J. made other more explicit sexual statements that felt threatening to me. At times, B.P.J.” would make remarks suggesting a desire to carry out sexual assault, according to the lawsuit.

“I felt confused and disgusted when I heard these vulgar and aggressive comments,” Cross alleged. “It was especially confusing because I was told that B.P.J. was on the girls’ team because B.P.J. identifies as a girl, but the girls on the team never talked like that.”

6 STATES SUE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION OVER NEW TITLE IX PROTECTIONS FOR TRANS ATHLETES IN GIRLS’ SPORTS

Cross then alleged she would report the comments to her school’s administrators, but “B.P.J. got very little or no punishment for saying things that no other student would get away with.”

Even though Cross, who is 15 years old, started high school last fall, she still interacts with B.P.J. because the middle and high school share the same track and overlapping practice times. This fall, B.P.J. will enter high school, and Cross said she “dreads being on the same sports team again.”

“I am reluctant to keep competing on a team that exposes me to these inappropriate comments. I’m also reluctant to continue in track and field if I have to compete against boys. I’m unable to fully enjoy sports in this environment,” Cross said.

Cross noted that B.P.J.’s athletic performance steadily advanced throughout middle school. In 2023, B.P.J. outperformed Cross and secured a spot in the Mid Mountain 10 Middle School Championships, a track meet in which only the top three athletes from each team can compete. B.P.J. qualified for the meet, knocking Cross out of one of the top three positions. 

“If I complained, I would be unfairly labeled as ‘transphobic,’ even though that is not true. It felt unfair. I felt like I had to suck it up and live with it. I felt unheard and unseen,” Cross said in the lawsuit.

B.P.J. is now connected to the legal proceedings of State of Tennessee v. Cardona, filed in the Northern District of Kentucky. West Virginia was part of the original group of six states filing as plaintiffs in the case against Biden’s Title IX revisions.

In April, new regulations for Title IX were ushered in by President Biden’s Department of Education that would protect gender identity from discrimination, while rolling back Trump-era rules that bolstered the rights of those accused of sexual misconduct. 

Heritage Foundation legal fellow Sarah Marshall Perry told Fox News Digital in an interview Cross’s lawsuit expands the number of individuals, organizations and states challenging Title IX. 

“We know it hasn’t even been published officially in the Federal Register, and yet it’s already raised the ire of more than 17 school districts, one school board, seven organizations, two individual plaintiffs and 26 states, and is some of the most significant federal litigation in terms of depth and swiftness of filing that I have ever seen in my two and a half decades of legal practice,” Perry said.

BIDEN’S TITLE IX RULES ARE A VICTORY FOR POWERFUL TEACHERS UNIONS FUELING DEM CAMPAIGNS

“It is not only unconstitutional, it’s a violation of administrative law and the Civil Rights law that we are seeing claims based on everything from a violation of the First Amendment to sexual harassment, as is Cross’s claim, to violation of religious liberty to violation of the Administrative Procedure Act,” Perry continued.

“So, it is an encouraging development, and I don’t believe it will be the last two that we see here in the middle of May.”

Earlier this month, five West Virginia middle school girls were banned from participating in track and field meets after they protested against B.P.J. and the court’s refusal to enforce the state’s “Save Women’s Sports Act.” But they were given the ability to compete again after Judge Thomas A. Bedell issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the Harrison Board of Education and its schools from penalizing student-athletes for their speech. 

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The school board denied allegations of retaliation against the students and instead asserted the students were allowed to protest without hindrance and with full awareness and permission from coaches and the principal.

Fox News Digital’s Julia Johnson contributed to this report. 

EXCLUSIVE: As President Biden prepares for a weekend of Black voter outreach in the key battleground states of Georgia and Michigan, a high-profile Black Republican politician is accusing the president of election year “pandering.”

“It’s always pandering,” Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida argued in a national digital exclusive interview with Fox News. “This is what the Democrats do, especially in election years. You never see them in the Black community until it’s time to actually get votes, and they show up and want to give speeches.”

The president is scheduled to take part in an event Saturday in Georgia that his re-election campaign highlighted was “focused on engaging Black voters” before delivering the commencement address Sunday morning – in his official capacity as president – at Morehouse College, a renowned historically Black men’s liberal arts college in Atlanta.

Biden later Sunday will meet with small-business owners in Detroit before delivering an address that evening in Michigan to the NAACP.

The president’s re-election team, in an email release, highlighted that “no administration has delivered for Black America like President Biden and Vice-President Harris.”

WATCH: BLACK VOTERS WEIGH IN TO FOX NEWS ON THE PRESIDENT’S PERFORMANCE

“This campaign will not take a single voter for granted,” Biden campaign senior adviser Trey Baker wrote in the memo. “We are not, and will not, parachute into these communities at the last minute, expecting their vote.”

But a slew of polls this spring – both nationally and in the key swing states – have indicated that Trump has gained support with Black voters at Biden’s expense.

TRUMP AIMS TO TURN THESE BLUE STATES RED IN NOVEMBER

The Biden campaign memo spotlighted that “while the Black unemployment rate skyrocketed under Trump, the Biden-Harris administration helped to create over 2.5 million jobs for Black workers, resulting in record low Black unemployment – Black business ownership is also growing at the fastest pace in 30 years.” 

But Donalds, in his interview with Fox News Digital, pointed to persistent inflation.

“I think his problem with Black voters in particular, but with all voters, is that his agenda sucks. It’s awful. Inflation is crippling so many families. It’s destroyed purchasing power,” Donalds emphasized.

Donald also pointed to what he called the nation’s “wide open border, which is strangling every major city in America, squeezing their budgets, overwhelming resources.”

And he claimed that Biden is “trying to find ways to repair the damage. But speeches don’t repair damage. Actual policy and execution is what fixes things.”

Donalds was interviewed ahead of his trip to New Hampshire on Friday to headline the state GOP’s major fundraising dinner. 

RUNNING MATES DUELING FOR DOLLARS AS THEY SHOW OFF THEIR FUNDRAISING CLOUT FOR TRUMP

Former two-term South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who later served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, in January captured 40% of the vote in New Hampshire’s presidential primary. Haley, who was the last candidate standing against Trump in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, ended her campaign in early March.

But more than two months after she dropped out, zombie candidate Haley is still grabbing sizable support in the GOP primaries at the expense of Trump.

Donalds said his message to New Hampshire Republicans is “it’s time to come together. It’s time to be focused on being one party… I think every Republican in our country, regardless of what side of the party they’re on, does understand that Joe Biden is the master of disaster and has to be defeated if our country’s going to survive.”

“I’m fully confident that by the time we get to the November election, those voters are going to come home and vote Republican. They’re going to vote for Donald Trump,” Donalds predicted.

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Donalds, a Trump ally and supporter in the House, is considered to be on the former president’s short list for 2024 running mate.

The two-term congressman has long said he would serve as running mate if asked by Trump.

But because both Donalds and Trump call Florida home, residency could be an issue. 

A general interpretation of a clause in Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution is that if the presidential and vice presidential nominee come from the same state, the electors from that state cannot vote for both candidates. With 30 electoral votes at stake in Florida, this could be an issue.

Asked what would happen if he was named as the GOP’s vice presidential nominee, Donalds said “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. It’s something we definitely have to think through. When you get there, you get there, and you make those decisions accordingly. There’s probably ways to work that out.”

Donalds was interviewed a few days after Trump, at a closed-door fundraiser in New York City, suggested that if Donalds ran for Florida governor in 2026 in the race to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, he’d have “many friends in the race.”

Donalds told Fox News “I’ve thought about it. I don’t really rule anything out simply,” 

“It’s really cool that people back home in Florida consider me to be able to be the state’s next governor. It’s really an honor. It’s honestly surreal thinking about it because I’m 45 and my journey through politics has been a really fruitful one,” Donalds said. “It’s really humbling and an honor, but I just focus on doing the job I have.”

Donalds’ trip to New Hampshire – which holds the first presidential primary in the race for the GOP nomination – is also sparking some speculation that he may have some national ambitions in four years.

“I think it’s pretty cool. You never know. Politics is a funny business. Things can change very, very fast,” he said when asked about a possible White House run in 2028. “People have asked me about the future all the time. So why not go to New Hampshire, especially if they ask you to come. You better show up.”

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