NationalWatch

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.

Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. 

What’s happening:

– Trump heads to Minnesota GOP convention after son’s high school graduation

– State Department warns Americans traveling overseas

– House rep revives ‘end the Fed’ push

Fetterman vs the Mean Girls

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman called out spats between Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Marjorie Taylor Green, and his fellow Democrat is not happy about it.

“In the past, I’ve described the U.S. House as The Jerry Springer Show. Today, I’m apologizing to The Jerry Springer Show,” Fetterman posted on social media, along with a headline about a congressional hearing that devolved into sophomoric insults where AOC called MTG “baby girl” and MTG questioned AOC’s intelligence and criticized another Democrat’s fake eyelashes.

Ocasio-Cortez told Fetterman in a post that he seemed to be “confused about racism and misogyny being a ‘both sides’ issue,” and said she would “stand up to bullies, instead of becoming one.”

There have been plenty of fiery moments in the House chambers in recent years, but the Senate has seen its share of parliamentary bickering. 

Across America

‘LEGAL VICTORY’: SC’s abortion ban survives Planned Parenthood challenge …Read more

ALITO SPEAKS OUT: SCOTUS justice talks to Fox News on upside-down flag allegations …Read more

‘SHOULD BE ASHAMED’: Mayor Adam’s office accuses Washington Post of pushing ‘antisemitic trope’ …Read more

‘CULT-LIKE’ FAITH: ‘View’ hosts slam Catholic NFL star as ‘extremist’ …Read more

GLOBAL WARNING: State Department issues ‘worldwide caution’ alert for Americans overseas …Read more

Capitol Hill

PROGRESSIVE REBELS: 61 House progressives oppose resolution condemning violence against police …Read more

SENTENCED: Pelosi hammer attacker learns fate …Read more

‘HARD-EARNED TAXPAYER DOLLARS’: House Republicans demand full accounting of federal DEI programs …Read more

CHANGE OF HEART: Senate committee mulls reviving tool that could stymie Trump nominees in potential second term …Read more

END THE FED? Thomas Massie introduces bills to audit, abolish the Federal Reserve …Read more

BLASTING BIDEN: Mitt Romney defends Trump on border security, spars with MSNBC …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

‘CRUDE’ MOVE: Biden’s privilege claim to keep special counsel interview audio under wraps blasted as political cover …Read more

‘INEXCUSABLE’: Wife of wounded veteran in bitter Senate primary unleashes on GOP opponent’s ‘vile’ ads …Read more

‘DEVASTATING’: CNN anchor describes moment Cohen lost credibility during Trump trial …Read more

‘A REAL TRIUMPH’: MSNBC hails pivotal moment for Trump defense team against Michael Cohen …Read more

‘MEAN GIRL QUALITY’: MSNBC host comments on supposed petty behavior of Trump allies appearing at NYC courtroom …Read more

‘WONDERFUL BOY!’ Trumps attend son Barron’s high school graduation …Read more

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Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to deny Hunter Biden‘s request to delay his upcoming California tax trial in what is expected to be a busy summer for the president’s son, who also faces a separate criminal trial in Delaware. 

In his motion, Special Counsel David Weiss said Biden’s attorney, who is representing him in the California and Delaware cases, previously agreed to the trial dates last year. 

“No defendant would be afforded a continuance because he wrongly chose to lodge a jurisdictionless appeal, and this defendant should be treated no differently,” the motion states.” Defense counsel offers a handful of other reasons why he wants a trial delay of 77 days, but none of them warrant a continuance. The motion should be denied.”

HUNTER BIDEN INDICTMENT MUDDIES WEISS’ CREDIBILITY AS WHISTLEBLOWERS FEEL VINDICATED: ATTORNEY

Weiss said Biden’s attorney agreed in April 2023 to commence with the trial in Delaware, in which Biden is accused of federal gun charges, despite the tax trial being scheduled to begin on June 20. The Delaware proceeding is expected to begin June 3. 

“In his latest effort to delay trial (an application for a continuance), defendant’s lead counsel’s primary reason is the weeklong June 3, 2024, trial in Delaware at which he is one of the lawyers representing the defendant with respect to firearms charges,” the court document reads. “But on March 13, 2024, and again on April 11, 2024, lead counsel told the Delaware court he was able to try the gun case in Delaware on June 3, 2024, with full knowledge that this trial would begin on June 20, 2024.”

On Tuesday, a federal judge rejected a request to delay the gun case until September. U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika said she believes “everyone can get done what needs to get done” by the trial’s start date of June 3.

SHAPLEY ATTORNEY: HUNTER BIDEN PROSECUTOR ‘ALL OVER THE MAP,’ SHOULD TESTIFY TO CONGRESS

Later that day, a three-judge panel of a federal appeals court said the tax case against Biden can also move forward.

In Delaware, Biden is accused of lying about his drug use in October 2018 while filling out a form to buy a gun that he kept for 11 days. He has pleaded not guilty. 

In California, he’s charged with three felonies and six misdemeanors over at least $1.4 million in taxes he owed between 2016 and 2019.

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A plea agreement reached between Biden and prosecutors was rejected by a judge who was supposed to sign off on it, forcing the case to go to trial. 

It’s been more than 50 years since a Republican won Minnesota in a presidential election, but former President Trump says he’s got “a really good shot” of breaking the losing streak this November in his 2024 rematch with President Biden.

The former president is in the reliably blue state Friday evening to headline the Minnesota GOP’s annual Lincoln Reagan fundraising dinner.

Trump lost Minnesota by just 1½ points in his 2016 presidential election victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Four years ago, he lost the state to President Biden by more than seven points in his unsuccessful re-election campaign.

Ahead of the 2020 election, Trump promised a victory in Minnesota, saying that if he lost, “I’m never coming back.”

FIRST ON FOX: TOP JEWISH GOP GROUP STEPS UP FUNDRAISING FOR TRUMP AMID ANTI-ISRAEL COLLEGE CAMPUS PROTESTS 

Fast-forward four years and Trump is back and once again predicting a victory.

“We think we have a really good shot at Minnesota,” Trump emphasized in an interview Wednesday with KSTP, a local TV station in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. “We have great friendships up there.”

Trump added that he’s “worked hard on Minnesota” and that “Tom Emmer is very much involved,” pointing to the House majority whip.

Emmer, who is joining Trump at the state GOP gala, is chairing the Trump campaign in Minnesota even though the former president and his allies helped sink Emmer’s bid last autumn to become House speaker.

As the Trump and Biden campaigns prepare for battle in seven crucial swing states that decided the 2020 election (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which were narrowly won by Biden, and North Carolina, which Trump carried by a razor-thin margin) and will likely once again in the 2024 rematch, both campaigns see opportunities to expand the map.

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

Two weekends ago at a closed-door Republican National Committee retreat for top-dollar donors  at a resort in Palm Beach, Florida, senior Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita and veteran pollster Tony Fabrizio spotlighted internal surveys that suggested both “Minnesota and Virginia are clearly in play.”

“In both states, Trump finds himself in positions to flip key electoral votes in his favor,” the survey, which was shared with Fox News, emphasizes. 

And both states have sizable populations of rural white voters without college degrees who disproportionately support the former president.

Biden’s campaign disagrees that either Minnesota or Virginia are up for grabs.

While noting they are “not taking any state or any vote for granted,” Biden campaign battleground states director Dan Kanninen told reporters last week “we don’t see polls that are six or seven months out from a general election, head-to-head numbers certainly, as any more predictive than a weather report is six or seven months out.”

Kanninen highlighted that the campaign has teams on the ground in both states engaging voters.

“We feel strongly the Biden-Harris coalition in both Minnesota and Virginia, which has been strong in the midterms and off-year elections, will continue to be strong for us in the fall of 2024,” he added.

And Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt, pointing to the president’s current fundraising dominance and ground-game advantage in the key battlegrounds, argued “Trump’s team has so little campaign or infrastructure to speak of they’re resorting to leaking memos that say ‘the polls we paid for show us winning.'” 

But Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who launched a long-shot and unsuccessful primary challenge against the president, insists “Minnesota’s in play.”

Phillips, in an interview this week on Fox News’ “Special Edition,” argued Minnesota’s “like a lot of states that I think a lot of my fellow Democrats don’t want to confess is the reality. … I’m telling my Democratic colleagues who are supporting President Biden, myself included, that there’s a lot of work to do.”

While Trump’s campaign looks for opportunities to expand the map in Minnesota and Virginia, Biden’s campaign appears to be eyeing swing state North Carolina and Florida. 

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Trump carried the Sunshine State by less than four points in 2020, but two years ago, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and GOP Sen. Marco Rubio each won re-election by nearly 20 points.

LaCivita argued the Biden campaign was playing “a faux game” in both states but insisted Trump has a “real opportunity in expanding the map in Virginia and Minnesota.”

Trump’s stop in Minnesota comes a week after he held a large rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, a red bastion in an overwhelming blue state where no Republican has carried the state in a presidential election in over three decades. Trump lost the state to Biden by 16 points four years ago.

“We’re going to win New Jersey,” Trump vowed at the rally.

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

The estranged wife of ex-special prosecutor Nathan Wade said in a Georgia court filing Friday that Wade claims his resignation from his post at the Fulton County District Attorney’s office “constitutes a substantial change in circumstance, rendering him unable to meet his financial obligation” in their divorce proceedings. 

Wade was hired in 2021 by DA Fani Willis to help prosecute the sweeping election interference case against former President Trump. She was accused by Trump and co-defendants of having an “improper” affair with Wade.

On March 15, Wade resigned after a Georgia judge gave Willis an ultimatum of either Willis or Wade quitting the case to move forward. 

Joclyn Wade, from whom Nathan Wade filed for divorce, alleged in Friday’s court filing that due to her soon-to-be ex-husband’s “consistent failure to provide accurate or timely discovery or responses in this matter, [she] sought updated financial documentation from Fulton County regarding Plaintiff’s employment as a Special Assistant District Attorney.” 

NATHAN WADE SPEAKS OUT ON ‘WORKPLACE ROMANCE’ WITH FULTON COUNTY DA FANI WILLIS: ‘AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE’

According to the filing, Nathan filed an emergency motion April 8 to modify his payment agreement to Joclyn. The Fulton County Chief Financial Officer revealed Nathan was issued two checks dated three days before filing his motion, totaling $53,000.

“There appears to be no plausible explanation other than Plaintiff’s deceitfulness to justify his pursuit of emergency relief from this Court on April 8, 2024, alleging essentially insolvency when he had received Fifty-Three Thousand Dollars only three (3) days prior,” the document states. 

“As additional evidence of Plaintiff’s lack of candor and deceit towards this Court, both checks and corresponding invoices to Fulton County pertain to work performed in October and November of 2023. Plaintiff did not resign until March 15, 2024; thus, it is reasonable to infer that there are further outstanding payments due to Plaintiff that likely have not been disbursed as of the current date.” 

FANI WILLIS RAISES EYEBROWS WITH WINK ON THE STAND, LABELS FORMER LOVER NATHAN WADE A ‘SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN’

On April 4, Jocelyn accused Nathan of failing to pay her court-ordered expenses and said he should be held in “contempt of court.”

She alleged that her husband, with whom an agreement in divorce proceedings was made earlier this year, had neglected to pay court-ordered medical expenses, contributing to a “worsening” health condition that could “necessitate emergency intervention.”

“Defendant urgently requires medical procedures, namely an endoscopy, colonoscopy, and ultrasound, due to severe physical symptoms she has been enduring. These symptoms have significantly impacted her ability to consume most foods, leading to a substantial weight loss, notwithstanding her already slender stature when in better health,” the filing stated.

Nathan broke his silence earlier this month about his “workplace romance” with Fani Willis, which he said was “American as apple pie.” 

Nathan spoke to ABC News’ Linsey Davis in his first media interview since resigning from his role as special counsel.

FULTON COUNTY DA FANI WILLIS ADMITS PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH PROSECUTOR BUT DENIES CONFLICT OF INTEREST

“Workplace romances are as American as apple pie,” Nathan said in an interview that aired on “Good Morning America.” “It happens to everyone. But it happened to the two of us.”

Asked if he regretted the relationship, Nathan said he did because it became the focus of the case.

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House Republicans have invited Nathan to interview with the House Judiciary Committee, and chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio said Nathan’s role in the case is too important to “go unquestioned.” 

Nathan did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday admitted that the number of migrants who have crossed the southern border under his watch outpaces that under the Trump administration — but blamed a number of hemispheric factors and a “broken” system for the border crisis.

Mayorkas was asked at an event at The Economic Club in Washington, D.C., about the border crisis, and the historic numbers of migrants the U.S. has been seeing in recent years. There were more than 2.4 million migrant encounters in FY 23, and that mark could be broken in FY 24, although monthly numbers have decreased.

“The number of encounters at the southern border is very high, but it’s very, very important, number one, to contextualize it and, number two, to explain it,” he said. From a context perspective, the world is seeing the greatest level of displacement since at least World War II.”

BIDEN ADMIN REFUSES TO REVEAL TERROR WATCHLIST NATIONALITIES AS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION EXPLODES ON HIS WATCH

“So the challenge of migration is not exclusive to the southern border, nor to the Western Hemisphere,” he said. “It is global.”

Mayorkas cited violence, insecurity, poverty, corruption, authoritarian regimes and “extreme weather events” among the reasons for migration across the globe. However, he also said there were additional explanations for why the U.S. was a top destination.

“In our hemisphere, we overcame COVID more rapidly than any other country. We had, in a post-COVID world, 11 million jobs to fill, we are a country of choice as a destination, and one takes those two forces and then one considers the fact that we have an immigration system that is broken fundamentally and we have a level of encounters that we do,” he asserted.

As evidence that the system is broken, Mayorkas said that the average time between an encounter and the adjuciation of an asylum claim is seven years. He was later asked by David Rubenstein, president of the Economic Club, how many people have come across the border since President Biden took office.

“It’s several million people,” Mayorkas said.

Rubenstein asked if it was true that more people have come in under President Biden than former President Trump.

Mayorkas said it was, but said that was in part due to a suppression of migration during the COVID pandemic that followed a significant increase in migration under the last pre-COVID Trump year.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM FOREIGN ADVERSARY HIT NEW HIGH AMID NATIONAL SECURITY FEARS 

“That is true,” he said. “Now in 2019, there was almost a 100% increase in the number of encounters at the southern border over 2018. The situation in the hemisphere was propelling people to leave their country. 2020 was a period of tremendously suppressed migration throughout the hemisphere and around the world because of the COVID-19 people coming over the border illegally.”

The Biden administration has defended its record on immigration, saying it has combined additional consequences for illegal entry with broader pathways for lawful migration. It has coupled that with calls for reform and additional funding from Congress, including most recently a bipartisan Senate bill that has failed to pick up support. It has also pointed to 720,000 removals or returns of illegal immigrants since May 2023, more than in every full fiscal year since 2011.  

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

Mayorkas also noted a recent drop in numbers that showed 179,725 encounters in April, compared to 211,992 in April 2023 and 189,357 in March. 

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Republicans, however, have blamed the Biden administration for the border crisis, saying it is the rolling back of Trump-era policies that have caused the surge in migration. Republicans in the House have passed their own border security bill, which would restart border wall construction and limit asylum claims, among other inclusions. They also impeached Mayorkas earlier this year, but those articles of impeachment have not been taken up in the Senate for a trial.

Fox News’ Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.

When the U.S. Congress first convened on March 4, 1789, it did so at Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan.

New York was the first seat of the incipient U.S. government. Congress decamped to Philadelphia a year later. Lawmakers eventually dropped anchor in what is now Washington, D.C.

But for all the Congressional action in New York of late, one might think Congress is “Lost in New York” this spring.

Start spreadin’ the news. Lots of members of Congress are leavin’ today. And Monday. And Tuesday. And Thursday. A host of Republicans now routinely head north to sit in on the trial of former President Trump in New York.

FROM CAPITOL HILL TO THE COURTROOM: BOB MENENDEZ DOESN’T WANT YOU TO BE DISTRACTED BY SHINY OBJECTS

The federal corruption trial of Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez is also underway at the Daniel P. Moyinhan federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan. It’s named after the late, legendary Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a New York Democrat. Menendez will likely be holed up there every day court is in session for his trial between now and perhaps the middle of July.

The government accuses Menendez of doing bidding for New Jersey businessmen to curry favor with Egypt and Qatar. The feds also allege the senator obstructed justice for another Garden State businessman, pushing for leniency in another criminal case. Prosecutors say they’ll show how Menendez and his wife scored a Mercedes-Benz convertible for their actions.

The Mercedes is nice. But what really glitters in this case is gold. Gold is a theme in multiple James Bond films. There was “Goldeneye.” “Goldfinger” was a hit in 1964. The “Man with the Golden Gun” arrived a decade later. But if a jury convicts Menendez, a new title may emerge — “The Senator with the Golden Bars.”

Menendez is alleged to have scored 13 gold bars in exchange for helping one of the businessmen secure access to a development project in Qatar. Attorneys for the government say they have proof Menendez googled the price of gold.

If found guilty, political observers could deem the Menendez affair “From Qatar With Love.” And don’t forget that Menendez was just on trial seven years ago in an unrelated bribery case. That case ended in a hung jury. This isn’t “You Only Live Twice.” If there’s a hung jury again, perhaps the appropriate title is “You’re Only Tried Twice.”

There are often parallels in politics. But in this scenario, the trials of the New Jersey Democrat and Mr. Trump are perpendicular.

Travel one block west on Worth Street from the Moynihan courthouse and hang a hard right. You’ll find yourself at 100 Centre St. That’s home to the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse. That’s where former President Trump is on trial in his hush money case involving Stormy Daniels.

Don’t be surprised if the trial of the former president overshadows the Menendez proceedings. The courthouse for Mr. Trump’s case literally casts a shadow on the building where the Menendez case is underway.

Like Menendez around the block, Mr. Trump is present every day court is in session.

But consider the Republican lawmakers who surfaced in Gotham. Not just to sing praises of the former president, but to excoriate President Biden, the U.S. justice system, Judge Juan Merchan and a laundry list of others.

On Monday, the cavalry of senators Tommy Tuberville R-Ala.; JD Vance, R-Ohio; and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., arrived to extoll Mr. Trump.

On Tuesday, Reps. Cory Mills, R-Fla., and Byron Donalds, R-Fla., comprised part of the traveling roadshow.

On Thursday, Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla.; Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.; Bob Good, R-Va.; Eli Crane, R-Ariz.; Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.; Michael Waltz, R-Fla.; and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., trekked up the Acela Corridor, showing they’d stand by Mr. Trump in a New York minute.

JURY PICKED, OPENING STATEMENTS BEGIN IN US V. MENENDEZ: ‘USE YOUR GOOD JUDGMENT’

But, without question, the star surrogate for former President Trump was House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

“I wanted to be here myself to call out what is a travesty of justice,” Johnson said of the former president’s trial. “I’m speaking with you outside because the court won’t allow us to speak inside the building. That’s just one of the many things that are wrong here.”

Johnson is speaker of the House. The officer of Article I in the Constitution. But the court calls the shots when it comes to Article III.

Johnson’s appearance had multiple goals. First, this was an extension of the speaker’s sojourn to Mar-a-Lago a few weeks ago to tout an election integrity effort alongside Trump. Secondly, Johnson is trying to remain in the best graces of the volatile former president. Don’t forget that Johnson survived an effort to oust him just last week by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. Even though Johnson retained the speakership, there are certainly some conservative factions who are disappointed in him. 

They oppose his spending pact with Democrats, his efforts to renew a controversial overseas spying program that sometimes sweeps up information about Americans and the bill to aid Ukraine. So, Johnson is certainly trying to flex his MAGA bona fides.

But in another respect, this is about political stability for Johnson and congressional Republicans.

Mr. Trump is likely his party’s nominee for the fall. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., won’t lead the GOP next year, regardless of whether they’re in the majority or minority. McConnell’s now endorsed the former president. But there’s no love lost between the Kentucky Republican and Trump. The only reason Johnson survived Greene’s gambit to unseat him was because of Democratic votes. That’s not optimal. But it beats chaos. So, part of the strategy by Johnson is to keep the party unified. 

And as long as he and Trump are on the same page, it helps Johnson maintain the speakership. If Johnson disappears, Republicans will have a monster of a challenge electing a speaker next year — if they’re in the majority.

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Truman Capote wrote, “I love New York. Even though it isn’t mine.”

New York is not necessarily the province of these lawmakers. New York is the center of the universe. Not the center of politics.

But with these major trials unfolding just feet from one another in Manhattan, the political center of gravity appears to have shifted north from Washington, D.C., for now.

Fox News Media has invited the Trump campaign and the Biden campaign to participate in a vice presidential debate before the 2024 election. 

In a letter to the campaigns, Fox News Media said it requested the opportunity to host a vice presidential debate, and said it would be available to do so on July 23, August 13, or dates “following both nomination conventions.”

The proposed vice presidential debate would be hosted by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, who Fox News Media President Jay Wallace said “are obvious choices as the faces of our political coverage.” 

“In addition, FOX News Media has reached out to Virginia State University as a possible location, since it was selected by the CPD as the first historically Black College or University to host a Presidential debate,” the letter said. 

“Despite not having a Democratic debate in 2016/2020, FOX News was able to secure town halls with Democratic candidates such as: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Amy Klobuchar and Kirsten Gillibrand.
In recognition of FOX News Media’s capabilities and reputation, we cordially extend an invitation to all concerned parties to discuss our proposal,” the letter states. 

Former President Trump accepted the invitation Friday afternoon.

“On behalf of the future Vice President of the United States, who I have not yet chosen, we hereby accept the Fox Vice Presidential Debate, hopefully at Virginia State University, the first Historically Black College or University to host a Debate – Date to be determined,” Trump posted on his Truth Social. “I urge Vice President Kamala Harris to agree to this. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” 

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from any cases related to the 2020 election on Friday following a revelation that an upside-down flag was flown at his home a week after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. 

“Flying an upside-down American flag—a symbol of the so-called ‘Stop the Steal’ movement—clearly creates the appearance of bias,” said Durbin in a statement.

“Justice Alito should recuse himself immediately from cases related to the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection, including the question of the former President’s immunity in U.S. v. Donald Trump, which the Supreme Court is currently considering,” he added. 

ALITO SAYS WIFE DISPLAYED UPSIDE-DOWN FLAG AFTER ARGUMENT WITH INSULTING NEIGHBOR

The outcome of former President Trump’s federal election interference case notably hinges on what the Supreme Court determines about his claim of immunity. 

Durbin claimed, “The Court is in an ethical crisis of its own making, and Justice Alito and the rest of the Court should be doing everything in their power to regain public trust.”

The Illinois senator called the revelation “further proof” that Congress should institute a code of conduct for the Supreme Court. He urged his colleagues to support the passage of the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act. 

“Supreme Court justices should be held to the highest ethical standards, not the lowest,” he said. 

AOC RIPS FETTERMAN FOR COMPARING HOUSE TO ‘JERRY SPRINGER’ SHOW: ‘I STAND UP TO BULLIES’

Fox News Digital reached out to the Supreme Court for comment from Alito but did not immediately receive a response. 

In the days following the Capitol riot in 2021, in which supporters of Trump sought to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election, the home of Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann, was seen flying an upside down American flag, the New York Times reported. The positioning of a flag in such a way is understood to symbolize a nation in crisis, and it was adopted by some following the events of Jan. 6 to express resistance to the results of the 2020 election. 

Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., did not provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

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

Alito recounted the situation to Fox News’ Shannon Bream, telling her that a neighborhood argument began in January 2021 after one resident put up a “F— Trump” sign in close proximity to a school bus stop. 

When his wife spoke to the neighbor about the profane sign, the conversation was not productive, he explained. 

According to the justice, the same neighbor then took the disagreement further, placing a sign that attributed blame for the events of Jan. 6 personally to Martha-Ann. 

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

Later, during a walk, a resident of the home with the signage started an argument with his wife and called her names, “including the C-word,” he claimed. 

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He explained that her decision to hang the upside down flag on the property was a response to the evolving feud and that it only flew “for a short time.” 

Alito said he didn’t believe it was his place to order his wife against doing this and characterized his neighbors as “very political.” 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., criticized fellow Democrat from Pennsylvania, Sen. John Fetterman, on Friday after he made fun of a House markup that spiraled out of control. 

A late night House Oversight markup for a resolution to hold Biden administration Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress evolved into a shouting match on Thursday, which involved several representatives, including Ocasio-Cortez, and Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas. 

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

Fetterman, who has emerged as a top critic of his own party, likened the display in the House to “The Jerry Springer Show.” The decades-long reality program is described on Apple TV as “Loaded with bleeped profanity and guests who aren’t afraid to embarrass themselves on national TV, ‘Jerry Springer’ features a host who is the anti-Oprah, aiming his show squarely at viewers who rubberneck at traffic accidents.”

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

“In the past, I’ve described the U.S. House as The Jerry Springer Show,” Fetterman wrote on X. “Today, I’m apologizing to The Jerry Springer Show.”

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

Ocasio-Cortez shot back at the Pennsylvania Democrat, writing, “I understand you likely would not have stood up for your colleague and seem to be confused about racism and misogyny being a ‘both sides’ issue.”

“But I stand up to bullies, instead of becoming one. And to the women of Pennsylvania: I’d stand up for you too. Enjoy your Friday,” she continued. 

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

Fetterman’s office told Fox News Digital in response to Ocasio-Cortez’s post, “John responded to an absurd screaming match of personal attacks in an unhinged House committee hearing.”

During the markup, Crockett asked Greene, “Do you know what we’re here for?”, which prompted the Georgia Republican to retort, “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”

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

Ocasio-Cortez immediately sought to have Greene’s response taken down, calling for a point of order and calling the remark “absolutely unacceptable.”

When Greene asked, “Are your feelings hurt?”, Ocasio-Cortez said, “Oh girl, baby girl! Don’t even play!” 

Fox News Digital reached out to Fetterman’s office for a response to AOC’s post.

Photos have captured Donald Trump and his wife Melania appearing together Friday at their son Barron’s high school graduation in Florida during a break in the former president’s New York criminal trial. 

Barron is one of 116 seniors at the Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach that received their diplomas Friday, according to The Palm Beach Post. 

Images show Trump and Melania in attendance to watch Barron walk across the stage. 

The 18-year-old has been attending Oxbridge Academy since Trump left the White House in 2021, The Palm Beach Post reports. 

THE BLUE STATES TRUMP AIMS TO TURN RED IN NOVEMBER 

Trump had been pushing for weeks to attend his son’s high school graduation. The judge presiding over his criminal trial in Manhattan, Judge Juan Merchan, had left the decision on whether to allow Trump to attend in limbo. 

Merchan ultimately granted Trump’s request to attend Barron’s graduation, but he denied Trump’s request to attend arguments at the Supreme Court on April 25 regarding the matter of presidential immunity. 

“Barron’s a great student and he’s very proud of the fact he did so well and was looking forward for years to having his graduation with his mother and father there,” Trump said before Merchan granted his request to miss a day in court for the “scam trial.” 

Oxbridge Academy describes itself as a “premier, independent, co-educational college-preparatory school located on a beautiful 54-acre campus in West Palm Beach, Florida.” 

KAMALA HARRIS ACCEPTS INVITATION TO DEBATE TRUMP VP PICK 

“Founded in 2011 by philanthropist William I. Koch, Oxbridge Academy empowers students in grades 6-12 providing an outstanding education through a distinctive curriculum, an enriching environment, and an expert faculty helping them navigate their educational journeys with agility, confidence, and purpose,” it says on its website. 

“Annual graduating classes receive 100% acceptance to four-year colleges and universities, with 50% attending a top 100 U.S. university or a top 50 liberal arts college,” it adds. 

During proceedings at the hush money trial in New York City on Thursday, Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney, answered numerous questions related to his time working for Trump, including whether he had hoped to secure a role at the White House in the Trump administration, how Trump reacted to the initial story of his and Stormy Daniels’ alleged sexual encounter, and whether he believed he played a role in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment of Trump. 

Cohen said he “took some credit” for the 34-count indictment waged against Trump, who he once admitted to referring to as “dumb*ss Donald.” 

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Cohen’s testimony is expected to resume Monday when the court reconvenes at 9:30 a.m. ET. 

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Kyle Morris contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: The wife of Sam Brown, a Republican Senate candidate and wounded war veteran left with life-altering scars, is coming to her husband’s defense over “vile” attack ads being run by his primary opponent.

Amy Brown, often seen alongside her husband on the campaign trail, is arguing that ads running across Nevada by Dr. Jeffrey Gunter’s campaign accentuate Sam Brown’s scars, which were caused by an IED explosion during a 2008 deployment to Afghanistan that left his face severely burned.

“Our family embraces Sam’s scars as a physical testament to his strength through adversity and sacrifice for our country. Sam bravely fought through not just an IED attack that nearly took his life, but the agonizing process of physical recovery that included over 30 painful surgeries,” she told Fox News Digital.

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

“He overcame it all and bears the scars to prove it. It’s disgusting and inexcusable that someone claiming to be a doctor would attack a veteran’s physical disfigurement in general, but to do it for political purposes is especially low and vile,” she added.

The ads being run by Gunter, a dermatologist who served as former President Trump’s U.S. ambassador to Iceland, dub Brown as “Scam Brown,” and “the newest creature to emerge from the swamp,” referencing what it says are his close ties to Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, an establishment Republican.

The ads use imagery typically seen in a campaign attack ad with unflattering photos and angles of the candidate being attacked and also include additions that make Brown’s skin look scaley. National Republicans backing Brown say, this time, the attack ads go too far.

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

“It is absolutely disgusting that former Democrat Jeff Gunter is mocking the wounds of a veteran who was injured while serving our country. Something is seriously wrong with this guy,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) communications director Mike Berg told Fox News Digital.

Gunter responded to the criticism by telling Fox News Digital the ads were about Brown’s ties to the Washington, D.C., “swamp,” hence the politicians featured in one of the ads alongside Brown also having scaly looking skin with images of dripping mud on the screen.

“The only wound rightfully criticized is selling out to the swamp. As the son of a veteran, I deeply respect those who serve. As a doctor, I’ve treated severe injuries and know how wounds can be used as a crown or a crutch. I refuse to judge people based on appearances, a tactic often used by the left,” Gunter said. 

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Gunter pointed to Brown using his own injuries in his campaign message, including calling himself “Burning Man,” frequently referencing the attack that caused his wounds, and using “the same photos repeatedly.”

“Showing someone’s photo in an ad isn’t an attack. This is a desperate measure from Sam Brown’s imploding campaign. While he served with honor, he now prioritizes D.C. lobbyists and the political elite over Nevada’s working families,” Gunter said. “Candidates aren’t immune from criticism, and hiding from accountability isn’t what Americans want in their lawmakers.” 

The heated battle between Gunter and Brown escalated last month when the former announced he would be spending millions to ramp up his campaign to become the Republican nominee, including attacks against Brown. That prompted the Brown campaign and the NRSC to take up their own attacks, with the latter viewing the former solider as the best chance to take on incumbent Democrat Sen. Jacky Rosen in November.

The primary will be held on Tuesday, June 11.

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

Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., signaled his willingness to discuss bringing back a past Senate norm of allowing home state senators to nix judicial nominees they take issue with, as the potential of former President Trump being elected once again in November has become more evident. 

During a recent Judiciary Committee mark-up, Durbin responded to Republican frustrations over their inability to prevent certain circuit court judicial nominees in their state or region from moving forward, due to a lack of consideration for “blue slips,” or the approval or opposition of home state senators. 

The informal tool was routinely honored by the committee chairman for decades before the courtesy ceased to be offered in 2017. 

“I’m ready to open this conversation and dialogue on a bipartisan basis,” Durbin said last week. 

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

“If we are going to do anything in blue slips on circuit court judges, I think there is one premise. We should do it prospectively, not knowing the outcome of an election that may change the presidency or may not,” he explained. 

As the blue slip discussion is renewed, some have claimed Democrats are worrying about the fate of judicial nominations under another potential Trump term. Mike Davis, the former chief counsel for nominations to former Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, called the idea “nonsense.”

“Durbin fears Trump will win back the White House and Republicans will win back the Senate in November,” he said.

“On the surface, it seems that Democrats are preparing to lose the majority and the White House,” said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean, a former top spokesman to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and former chief of staff of the Senate Republican Conference, who likened it to an “insurance policy.” 

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

Durbin did not provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

As chairman, Grassley broke with a yearslong practice of honoring his fellow senators’ blue slips during the Trump administration. He moved forward in 2017 with an appellate court confirmation hearing over the objections of then-Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.

Grassley suggested at the time that Democrats were using the blue slip rule as a substitute for the filibuster, rather than for serious concerns. 

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

The Iowa senator, who would be expected to be judiciary chairman once again if Republicans take the majority in November, may not be as interested in re-instating the rule as some other GOP lawmakers. 

“The blue slip process is a courtesy – not a rule – extended at the discretion of the Judiciary chairman,” said a Grassley spokesperson.

“The vast majority of chairmen over the past century have allowed hearings on circuit court nominees without blue slips returned,” the spokesperson added. 

Carrie Severino, the president of the Judicial Crisis Network, similarly noted the rule “has not been an absolute bar to considering the nominee.”

“There are people who are trying to make this into more of a norm than it ever was,” she claimed. “Only a couple [of] Judiciary Committee chairs in history actually treated this really strict[ly].”

According to Ryan Owens, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the decision “highlights the uncertainty going into the election and likely Democratic weakness. It’s unclear who will hold the White House in 2025.”

He noted that Durbin’s willingness to consider re-instituting the rule “appears to be a recognition that his party is limping into the election and Trump very well could win.”

If accepted, “Durbin’s offer may help Democrats slow a Trump presidency,” he explained. 

BIDEN TORCHED BY REPUBLICANS FOR TOUGHER IMMIGRATION RULE AHEAD OF NOVEMBER ELECTION

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., pleaded with his Democratic counterparts to support bringing the rule back as well as deferring to significant concerns aired by home state senators during the markup. “I think that most Democrats realize if the election were held today, Donald J. Trump would be president” and Republicans could score the majority in the Senate, he explained.

“And they’re giving me nothing to motivate me to look out for them when the tables are turned next year,” he said. 

There is notable disagreement between Democratic and Republican senators over which people and what party is responsible for the rule no longer being honored. Democrats have pointed to Grassley’s move on circuit court nominees, but Republicans believe the trajectory started years earlier. 

Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked his colleagues if they could at least agree that former Democratic leader Sen. Harry Reid charted such a trajectory when he got rid of the filibuster for most executive nominations. 

However, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., refused to agree. “No, I think the blue slip is a completely different thing,” he maintained. 

Tillis stressed to his fellow committee members that Reid’s action and Grassley’s are “intrinsically linked.”

In fact, Tillis told Fox News Digital in an interview that it truly was triggered by an event in 2003. “Chuck Schumer made a conscious choice of breaking away from the norms of the Senate and using the filibuster to start holding judges up,” he said. 

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Sen. Chuck Schumer notably broke with tradition to begin blocking judicial nominees that otherwise enjoyed majority support by using the filibuster at the time. 

A spokesperson for the majority leader from New York told Fox News Digital, “Senate Republicans ended the blue slip for circuit court nominations under Donald Trump,” in reference to Grassley’s decision.

Despite bipartisan interest, “it feels unlikely that they’re going to come to a resolution before the election,” Bonjean said of the fate of the blue slip’s return. 

Owens noted that “politicians are always skeptical of proposed ‘truces’ when offered by parties in weak positions.” 

FIRST ON FOX: The Republican National Committee (RNC) is launching a “game-changing” new tool designed to help Republican candidates up and down the ballot communicate with voters ahead of the 2024 election.

The GOP committee announced the launch of VotePro on Friday, a new “one-stop shop” for Republican committees and candidates to customize websites and develop easy-to-use resources for voters.

The “fee-free” tool will allow Americans to complete various tasks that guarantee they are election day ready, including portals to “register to vote, check voter registration status, request a mail ballot, commit to vote early in person or on Election Day, find their Early Vote location, find their Election Day voting location,” according to a press release shared first with Fox News Digital.

RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said that the new system will “turn out the vote like never before.”

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

“As a grassroots leader and former State Chairman, I know that delivering vital resources across the Republican ecosystem will help us turn out the vote like never before in November,” Whatley said in a press release obtained by Fox News Digital. “No matter how Republicans decide to cast their ballot—in person, by mail, early, or on Election Day—we will urge Republicans to lock in their vote for President Trump.” 

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

The RNC is hunkering down in their support for former President Trump, noting that the tool will be used to aid his third presidential bid.

Susie Wiles, Trump campaign senior advisor, also said that the tool will play a major role in the former president’s 2024 campaign.

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“The Trump Campaign and RNC are partnering like never before to spread President Trump’s message far and wide,” Wiles said in a statement alongside the launch Friday. “President Trump has a proven track record of energizing voters and getting them to the polls. Tools like VotePro are a game-changing addition to our arsenal for translating this red-hot momentum into votes cast.” 

Vice President Kamala Harris has agreed to debate former President Donald Trump’s eventual pick for his running mate. 

Harris accepted an invitation to debate Trump’s eventual vice-presidential pick during the summer, offering July 23 and August 13 as options.

Trump is expected to announce his vice-presidential pick during the GOP convention, which begins on July 15. 

TRUMP ACCEPTS BIDEN OFFER TO DEBATE HIM IN JUNE AND SEPTEMBER

“I don’t say anything is 100%, but you’re getting pretty close,” Trump said of selecting his running mate. “I’ll be doing it in Milwaukee. We’re going to have a great time.”

An official with the Biden campaign told Politico they “look forward to the Trump campaign accepting one of these dates so that the full debate calendar for this campaign can be set.”

The debate will be broadcast by CBS News and hosted inside the network’s studios.

WHY BIDEN DID THE DEBATE THROWDOWN, TRUMP AGREED, AND THE RISKS FOR EACH SIDE

In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, the Biden-Harris campaign proposed that the first debate be in late June, after Trump’s New York criminal trial is likely to be over and after Biden returns from meeting with world leaders at the G-7 Summit. 

A second presidential debate would occur in September prior to the beginning of early voting.

The Biden-Harris campaign asked that the debates occur inside a TV studio, with microphones that automatically cut off when a speaker’s time limit elapses. 

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The letter also asked that the debates involve just the two candidates and the moderator — without “an in-person audience with raucous or disruptive partisans and donors” that Trump feeds on. 

They also want the debates without the participation of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. or other independent or third-party candidates. 

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was in New York for various events when he reached out to former President Trump to inform him he would be at the Manhattan courthouse, where Trump’s criminal trial was taking place the very next morning.

Johnson made the decision himself and contacted Trump directly, a source close to the speaker told Fox News Digital. Multiple people said he rode with Trump in his motorcade on Tuesday morning.

“I came here… today on my own to support President Trump because I am one of hundreds of millions of people and one citizen who is deeply concerned about this, so I’m glad to be here,” he told reporters afterward.

Johnson was the highest-ranking federal lawmaker to show up at Trump’s criminal proceedings so far – a public symbol of the staunch alliance the two have built since Johnson became speaker after a tumultuous series of events in October.

SPEAKER JOHNSON RIPS ‘ATROCITIES’ AGAINST TRUMP AT MANHATTAN HUSH MONEY TRIAL

Multiple people close to Trump and Johnson told Fox News Digital that they speak frequently, with one GOP lawmaker estimating they talk “at least weekly” but added “it depends on the issue.”

The source close to Johnson told Fox News Digital that the speaker keeps Trump in the loop on the major moves being made in the House of Representatives.

Those same allies stressed that the relationship, a close one for an elected congressional leader and their party’s presumptive presidential nominee, is positive for both the House and the GOP as a whole.

“It helps both sides. It helps the House, but it also helps the party, because you’re coming in from two different directions at the same general goal,” Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., who previously served in Trump’s Cabinet, told Fox News Digital.

Zinke said Trump and Johnson have a very good working relationship, arguing their “uniquely different” personalities make for a good match.

SPEAKER JOHNSON TO ATTEND TRUMP TRIAL IN MANHATTAN IN SHOW OF SUPPORT

“I think they both understand that unity of effort is required, and it has to be a cordial relationship… I think there’s a realization that if we hold the House, that would be an imperative for the America First agenda,” Zinke said. “You have a 100% New Yorker with high elbows and a lot of bravado. And then you have a Louisiana son of a firefighter that is kind and low-key. So maybe it’s a good match.”

Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., told Fox News Digital, “President Trump, behind the scenes and in public, speaks well of [Johnson]. I think, like a lot of people, he trusts him.”

Meuser added, “[Trump] thinks he could probably improve in certain areas. As I’ve said, some of those bills, I just think we should have fought harder for. But I think they really have a special relationship.”

Indeed, Trump has exercised his powerful influence to help Johnson out of legislative jams before – like expressing public support against GOP rebels’ threats to oust the speaker from leadership, and showing tacit support for Johnson’s plan on foreign aid.

Johnson, for his part, has vehemently defended Trump amid his criminal trials and even recently floated defunding Special Counsel Jack Smith. 

TRUMP REBUKES MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE’S FAILED ATTEMPT TO OUST SPEAKER: ‘NOT THE TIME’

That support extends behind closed doors as well – Johnson touted Trump’s poll numbers in critical swing states during a members-only House GOP Conference meeting on Wednesday morning, multiple people said.

And while he was not the first House GOP leader to endorse Trump’s re-election, his decision to do so was swift and, like much of Johnson’s political calculus surrounding the ex-president, appears to have been a unilateral decision.

Ahead of his November CNBC interview when Johnson made news by endorsing Trump, the source close to him recalled it was suggested that the speaker wait until his political team could put together a formal rollout. 

But Johnson argued that it made no sense to wait because he already supported the ex-president’s re-election, the source said, and then caught staff off guard when he told “Squawk Box,” “I’m all in for President Trump.”

Multiple lawmakers categorized Trump and Johnson’s relationship as a productive but working one – the GOP lawmaker who spoke with Fox News Digital said they started out at “nearly zero” – but the source pushed back, citing a recent interview in The Atlantic where Johnson said Trump called him the day after Johnson had to abruptly leave a meeting because his sons had almost drowned.

JOHNSON WARNED AGAINST MAKING ‘SIDE DEALS’ WITH GOP REBELS: DON’T ‘GREASE A SQUEAKY WHEEL’

“President Trump heard about it somehow – miraculously, this never made the news,” Johnson had said. “He was just so moved by the idea that we almost lost them… and we talked about the faith aspect of that, because he knows that I believe that, you know – that God spared the lives of my sons. That’s how I understand those events, and we talked about that.”

Trump also had a good relationship with Johnson when the latter was part of Trump’s impeachment defense team in 2020, the source said.

Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, another staunch Trump ally, told Fox News Digital, “I think it’s a healthy relationship. I think they both respect each other. And they don’t always agree, but who does? But you know, I think that they’ve got a relationship where they can get together in person or get on the phone and talk about stuff and come up with a common plan, a common strategy.”

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Rep. Andy Barr, of Kentucky, another Republican close to both, said their relationship was “very beneficial” to both sides.

“A lot of credit [goes] to both gentlemen for recognizing that they need each other. We need to collaborate and not just politically, but we want to have an effective first 100 days. We want to grow our majority, take back the White House and flip the Senate, and we want to be ready day one,” Barr said.

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

Former President Trump is attending youngest son Barron Trump’s high school graduation in Florida on Friday, a break from his criminal trial in New York City.

Barron Trump, 18, will graduate from Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday. The graduation ceremony is private. 

Barron Trump will go to college, but it is unclear which university he has selected. The former president has previously floated the possibility of his son attending his own alma mater, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Tiffany Trump also graduated. Eric Trump attended Georgetown University.

TRUMP PERMITTED TO ATTEND SON BARRON’S GRADUATION AFTER RIPPING TRIAL JUDGE FOR DELAYING DECISION

The former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee had been pushing for weeks to attend his son’s high school graduation. The judge presiding over his criminal trial in Manhattan, Judge Juan Merchan, had left the decision on whether to allow Trump to attend in limbo.

Court meets every day, except on Wednesdays, and Trump has been required to attend each day of his criminal trial stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against him.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. He maintains his innocence.

Merchan ultimately granted Trump’s request to attend Barron’s graduation, but he denied Trump’s request to attend arguments at the Supreme Court on April 25 regarding the matter of presidential immunity.

MELANIA TRUMP LAUNCHES JEWELRY LINE TO HONOR MOMS AHEAD OF MOTHER’S DAY, RAISE FUNDS FOR FOSTER KIDS

“Barron’s a great student and he’s very proud of the fact he did so well and was looking forward for years to having his graduation with his mother and father there,” Trump said before Merchan granted his request to miss a day in court for the “scam trial.”

Former first lady Melania Trump told Fox News Digital during an exclusive interview last month that nothing makes her prouder than the relationship she has built with Barron.

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Meanwhile, the trial is expected to resume on Monday with continued cross-examination of the prosecution’s star witness, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

It’s been more than a half century since a Republican won Minnesota in a presidential election, but former President Donald Trump says he’s got “a really good shot” of breaking the losing streak this November in his 2024 rematch with President Biden.

The former president heads to the reliably blue state on Friday, to headline the Minnesota GOP’s annual Lincoln Reagan fundraising dinner.

Trump lost Minnesota by just 1.5 points in his 2016 presidential election victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. But four years ago he lost the state to President Biden by more than seven points in his unsuccessful re-election campaign.

“We think we have a really good shot at Minnesota,” Trump emphasized in a Wednesday interview with KSTP, a local TV station in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. “We have great friendships up there.”

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Trump added that he’s “worked hard on Minnesota” and that “Tom Emmer is very much involved,” as he pointed to the House majority whip.

Emmer, who will join Trump at the state GOP gala, is chairing the Trump campaign in Minnesota even though the former president and his allies helped sink Emmer’s bid last autumn to become House speaker.

As the Trump and Biden campaigns prepare for battle in seven crucial swing states that decided the 2020 election (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which were narrowly won by Biden, and North Carolina, which Trump carried by a razor-thin margin) and will likely once again in the 2024 rematch, both campaigns see opportunities to expand the map.

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Two weekends ago at a closed-door Republican National Committee retreat for top-dollar donors that was held at a resort in Palm Beach, Florida, senior Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita and veteran pollster Tony Fabrizio spotlighted internal surveys that suggested both “Minnesota & Virginia are clearly in play.”

In both states, Donald Trump finds himself in positions to flip key electoral votes in his favor,” the survey, which was shared with Fox News, emphasizes. 

And both states have sizable populations of rural white voters without college degrees who disproportionately support the former president.

Biden’s campaign disagrees that either Minnesota or Virginia are up for grabs.

While noting that they are “not taking any state or any vote for granted,” Biden campaign battleground states director Dan Kanninen told reporters last week that “we don’t see polls that are six or seven months out from a general election, head-to-head numbers certainly, as any more predictive than a weather report is six or seven months out.”

Kanninen highlighted that the campaign has teams on the ground in both states engaging voters.

“We feel strongly the Biden-Harris coalition in both Minnesota and Virginia, which has been strong in the midterms and off-year elections, will continue to be strong for us in the fall of 2024,” he added.

And Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt, pointing to the president’s current fundraising dominance and ground-game advantage in the key battlegrounds, argued that “Trump’s team has so little campaign or infrastructure to speak of they’re resorting to leaking memos that say ‘the polls we paid for show us winning.'” 

But Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who launched a longshot and unsuccessful primary challenge against the president, insists that “Minnesota’s in play.

Phillips, in an interview this week on Fox News’ “Special Edition,” argued that Minnesota’s “like a lot of states that I think a lot of my fellow Democrats don’t want to confess is the reality… I’m telling my Democratic colleagues who are supporting President Biden, myself included, that there’s a lot of work to do.”

This is the second straight election where Trump aims to flip Minnesota.

At a late September 2020 rally in northern Minnesota, Trump boasted of the crowd size and insisted “this is not the crowd of somebody that’s going to finish second in this state to Sleepy Joe,” a derogatory term he used for Biden.

While Trump’s campaign looks for opportunities to expand the map in Minnesota and Virginia, Biden’s campaign appears to be eyeing swing state North Carolina as well as Florida. 

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Trump carried the Sunshine State by less than four points in 2020, but two years ago Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and GOP Sen. Marco Rubio each won re-election by nearly 20 points.

LaCivita argued the Biden campaign was playing “a faux game” in both states, but insisted that Trump has a “real opportunity in expanding the map in Virginia and Minnesota.”

Trump’s stop in Minnesota comes a week after he held a large rally in Wilwood, New Jersey, a red bastion in an overwhelming blue state where no Republican has carried the state in a presidential election in over three decades. Trump lost the state to Biden by 16 points four years ago.

“We’re going to win New Jersey,” Trump vowed at the rally.

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

Catholic groups and other conservative organizations are going after Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra after a GOP lawmaker accused him of withholding federal funds from hospitals that do not perform transgender surgeries on religious grounds.

Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., clashed with Becerra at a heated House hearing on Wednesday, demanding that he commit to not blocking federal dollars from doctors or hospitals “that refuse to provide the gender-affirming care that you’re mandating if it violates their religious beliefs.”

“You’re going somewhere completely different. First, you’re talking about how a doctor should have the rights to not offer particular care. Then you stretch it out to provide for the system-wide services… very different,” Becerra said in a clip later shared by Miller.

Miller replied, “You’ve put out this guidance and doctors do need to know what are you going to do if they refuse to provide this care?”

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“A doctor, if that doctor has religious objections, that doctor under these rules is not required to offer the care,” Becerra said, adding doctors “don’t get federal funding.”

When Miller pressed him about the faith-based hospitals where many doctors work, he said, “If a health care facility is violating the law and not providing the service they’re required to, they are not entitled to the resources.”

Becerra told Miller earlier in the exchange, “If a provider for religious reasons objects, they are not forced to provide any particular service.”

But Miller posted on X after the hearing, “After attempting to lie, HHS Secretary Becerra says the quiet part out loud. Joe Biden’s government will withhold funds from religious hospitals that refuse to provide sex-change operations for young children.”

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CatholicVote President Brian Burch told Fox News Digital, “Secretary Becerra has made a career of targeting Catholics. Now, in his disdain for faith-based health care institutions and medical professionals, including the numerous Catholic hospital systems across the country, he is threatening the care of millions of Americans.”

“This administration has done more harm to the Catholic faith and religious Americans than any which has preceded it. It is time for the American people to take a stand against this administration’s overt hostility toward institutions of faith. November can’t come soon enough,” he said.

Solidarity HealthShare President Chris Faddis said the recent HHS rule, which prohibits health programs that get federal dollars from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age or sex, including whether a patient identifies as LGBTQ+, confirms “our grave concern that his agency has no intention of honoring the empty promise to protect religious freedom”

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“These rules mandate gender transition surgeries even when it violates the faith of religious doctors and health care systems, not to mention their best medical judgment,” Faddis said.

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Katy Talento, executive director of the Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries and a former Trump administration health adviser, said the rule would force hospitals to provide transgender surgeries “or else lose access to federal funding to care for the poor and elderly, such as Medicaid and Medicare.”

“Instead of helping young people embrace how God created them as male or female, the Biden administration wants to permanently alter their bodies and force sterilization in many cases. Not only should hospitals use all available legal options to fight back, but Americans more broadly must wake up to this wicked agenda and roundly reject this wicked gender ideology at every turn,” said Walker Wildmon, vice president of the American Family Association.

Fox News Digital reached out to HHS for comment.