NationalWatch

House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., spoke to Fox News Digital ahead of the 10-year anniversary of her major primary victory en route to her election to Congress, reflecting on turning a red tide in a blue stronghold and the implications that growing GOP momentum in New York could mean for former President Trump come Election Day. 

“Absolutely, Democrats have a New York problem. New York is increasingly Republican, is increasingly pro-Trump,” Stefanik said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “We won the House majority out of New York, beating back Democrats’ illegal attempt to gerrymander and illegally draw districts. We won fair district lines not once, but twice. I’m proud that New York picked up more seats than any other state when it came to winning the majority in the House. And we’re the last line of defense.” 

“President Trump knows and cares deeply about New York, given, you know, he is originally a New Yorker himself, pays very close attention and understands that we will expand this House majority by holding on and flipping seats in New York from blue to red,” Stefanik said. “There is not a single swing district, not just in New York, but across the country where Joe Biden is pulling ahead. President Trump is pulling ahead in every single House district across the country. And that’s why Democrats are running scared, not just in New York, but nationwide.” 

A decade ago on Monday, Stefanik defeated opponent Matt Doheny in a June 24, 2014, GOP primary by more than 20 points. She cruised to victory again that November, besting Democrat Aaron Wolf in the general election to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Bill Owens in New York’s 21st Congressional District, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to serve in Congress in United States history at the time.

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Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., during a news conference in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, June 13, 2024. Congressional Republicans met with Donald Trump in Washington for a show of support following his felony conviction last month.  (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

That district previously had been won by former President Obama twice. Reflecting back now, Stefanik told Fox News Digital she is grateful not only to Republican voters, but to the independent and Democrat voters in the 2014 election who helped set her on the trajectory to build a strong GOP infrastructure locally, resulting in Republicans flipping multiple county seats and town leadership level positions in a down-ballot red wave in upstate New York. 

“I’m proud to be one of the strongest supporters of President Trump. And my district really tells the story of today’s growing Republican Party,” she said. “It is Trump country and Elise country now.”

While Democrats have performed well nationally over the past two years, Republican candidates have won key races in New York, where several House seat pick-ups proved critical to the GOP regaining control of the lower chamber of Congress by a razor-thin margin. New York is the host of half a dozen competitive House races in 2024 on the heels of a criminal trial against Trump and at a time when President Biden and fellow Democrat, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, are seeing record-low approval ratings. 

“It is a referendum on Democrats’ failed policies, and it’s a referendum on Joe Biden-Kathy Hochul failed policies both at the federal level, but of course, at the state level as well,” Stefanik said of growing GOP momentum in the Empire State. “And we’re continuing to make inroads as Republicans in New York because we represent American values, we represent the rule of law, support law enforcement, we support border security. We support pro-economic growth, lowering taxes, not raising taxes that we continue to see coming out of Albany and Joe Biden.” 

During a presidential election year, the Democratic Party – in New York, in particular – appears to be struggling as progressives and more mainstream party members battle on messaging regarding Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists following the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. 

“Squad” member Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., in a profanity-laced speech in the Bronx, recently lashed out against AIPAC, the pro-Israel group supporting his Democratic challenger, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, in the upcoming primary contest where race has also taken center stage. 

Stefanik, whose questioning of the presidents of Harvard, UPenn and MIT over failures in dealing with anti-Israel campus protests in December, argued that antisemitism is “a part of today’s Democratic Party.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., speaks at the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority conference on June 21, 2024 in Washington, DC. Former President Donald Trump will deliver the keynote at the conservative conference later in the weekend. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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“That was not a prepared question. That was a moral question. And I thought it was important to ask a direct moral question. And I was stunned and shocked and appalled by the morally bankrupt answers,” Stefanik said. “But I was proud to demonstrate clearly needed moral leadership on the global stage to combat the scourge of antisemitism. Frankly, antisemitism is a part of today’s Democratic Party, and it needs to be rooted out, and it needs to be destroyed and not allowed to fester the way antisemitism is wreaking havoc on these college campuses, putting Jewish students, Jewish faculty, Jewish community members at risk every day.” 

Turning to November’s election, Stefanik argued that Trump, following his conviction in New York, is gaining more support in response to “the weaponization of the courts to go after Joe Biden’s chief political opponent.”

“And the epitome of that has been Alvin Bragg’s illegal and unconstitutional targeting of President Trump,” she told Fox News Digital. “I have led the effort in terms of legal and ethics complaints, official complaints against Alvin Bragg and the rigged corrupt process. And I’m going to continue to do that. There is no one who has led more opposition in the House or the Senate when it comes to exposing the corruption of Alvin Bragg, where we have a violent crime crisis in New York. Yet he’s doing Joe Biden’s political bidding.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., joins former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally on Jan. 19, 2024, in Concord, New Hampshire.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The congresswoman has pointed to how the Republican Party is expanding and growing under Trump’s leadership, highlighting historic new GOP support from African American voters, Hispanic American voters and Asian American voters. Stefanik also pointed to recent polling showing that Biden’s “lead among women continues to decline within single digits.” 

Despite Democrats campaigning heavily on abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Stefanik argued that “President Trump is making inroads among women because women voters care about all issues,” including those related to the economy, national security, family, education and the Constitution. 

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Now serving her fifth term, Stefanik spoke of how she led the national effort to increase the number of Republican women elected to Congress by founding Elevate PAC, also known as EPAC, which creates a road map for conservative women running for office. 

“In 2018, we were down to 13. We’re now up to 36,” Stefanik said. “And EPAC, my leadership operation focusing on supporting Republican women, has been a big part of promoting those women. And they are very supportive of President Trump. And this has all happened at the growing Republican Party under President Trump’s leadership. That’s one of the reasons why you’re seeing in New York state, President Trump’s polling stronger than any Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan. So certainly, over the course of my lifetime, he has a historic pull within single digits today.” 

The Nevada Democratic Party has launched two separate legal maneuvers to disqualify independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Green Party ticket from ballot access in the November election.

While both the Biden camp and former President Trump have criticized Kennedy, Democrats in particular still appear sore eight years after figures showed votes for Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein in three swing states accounted for more than Hillary Clinton’s losing margin.

Earlier this week, the Nevada secretary of state’s office announced the Green Party had collected enough signatures to make the ballot.

Just as in 2016, Stein was named their nominee, after the party nominated self-described “ecosocialist” Howie Hawkins III in 2020.

However, the Nevada Democratic Party has since filed a lawsuit challenging the signatures, reportedly claiming too many were invalid to meet the approximate-10,000 threshold cited this week by Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar. 

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Aguilar said the Green Party had submitted 15,000 valid signatures, while the party claimed to have submitted nearly 30,000 overall, according to the Nevada Independent.

The Nevada Democrats were able to review a sampling of signatures following a records request, which then led to the lawsuit.

The party did not respond to multiple attempts by Fox News Digital to procure comment, but executive director Hillary Barnett said in a statement to the Reno Gazette-Journal that the party “filed this challenge to preserve our rights to inspect the petitions consistent with Nevada state law.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Green Party of the United States called the Democrats’ lawsuit “frivolous” and intended to divert attention away from third-party support in this cycle.

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“[T]here will be a choice in November that stands against war, genocide and climate catastrophe and for national health care, workers’ rights and the funding of an eco-socialist Green New Deal to address the current climate crisis,” the statement read.

“Their Party has abandoned working people, so the only way the Democrats think they can win the White House is by blocking our candidate from the ballot. This is what voter suppression looks like.”

In regard to Kennedy, Nevada Democrats said the scion of one of its party’s most popular families is ineligible to be on the ballot because he is registered with a disparate group of political parties in various states.

Kennedy, who is a registered Democrat in New York, is running on several lines, including his self-founded We The People Party in two states and the Reform Party in Florida.

The Democrats reportedly argued state law mandates Kennedy be registered without political party affiliation to run as an Independent in the state.

In a statement obtained by the Nevada Independent, Barnett said Nevada has a reasonable process for attaining ballot access and that Kennedy has not met its requirements.

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While Kennedy’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment, his campaign did previously sue Aguilar’s office claiming a policy requiring a third-party candidate name a running mate before gathering petition signatures is unconstitutional.

Kennedy’s campaign claimed the law violates the First and 14th Amendments, and campaign counsel Paul Rossi told The Associated Press that “the court must prohibit what was either rank incompetence or partisan political gamesmanship by the secretary from invalidating petition signatures afforded the highest First Amendment protection by the United States Supreme Court.”

In a statement responding to the lawsuit, Aguilar said Nevada has long respected third-party candidates running for office and that “each of those candidates managed to attain ballot access by following the law.”

PHILADELPHIA – As we get closer to the CNN Presidential Debate, both President Biden and former President Donald Trump are now preparing to take the stage.

Biden is prepping out at Camp David, while Trump hit the campaign trail in Philadelphia. Fox News Correspondent Alexis McAdams caught up with Trump before his rally to find out how he is getting ready.

“Well, this is really the best strategy right here. We have all these people out here and they are screaming questions. I look forward to the debate,” Trump said.

Trump asked the crowd during his rally at Temple University what his approach should be on stage.

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President Biden is set to go head-to-head with former President Trump on Thursday in the first general election debate of 2024. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

“How should I handle him? Should I be tough and nasty, and just say, ‘you’re the worst president in history.’ Or should I be nice and calm and let him speak?” Trump asked.

Though no matter his demeanor, Trump told Fox News that he is not worried about Biden’s debate preparations and feels confident in his own ability.

“Well, I think if he prepares, he’ll be fine. Then he will forget it within about an hour after preparing. So, we’ll see what happens. We’ll see what happens,” Trump said.

The former president is on a swing state tour, recently hitting Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Pennsylvania – a list of states Trump won back in 2016 but lost in 2020. According to recent polls, Trump is doing better in those states this time around. Gaining support with young and nonwhite voters, who say they are upset with Biden’s handling of the economy and Gaza.

According to a recent Marist College Poll, Trump is leading Biden by two points in Pennsylvania, a key state on the road to the White House. Trump told Fox News he could be anywhere, but is choosing to stop in urban areas, including a cheese steak shop in South Philly.

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“It’s not a game plan. It’s just there’s a lot of love. You know, they want hope. There’s no hope with this guy. Biden is the worst president we’ve ever had. There’s no hope. I’m saying the people need hope. I go out, I see the greatest people. So, we’re in the middle of a pretty rough area and it’s a love fest,” said Trump.

Former President Trump appears at his Philadelphia rally on June 22, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Jim Watson/Getty Images)

Some voters waited for hours outside the rally in record heat. Many said they wanted to hear more about the former president’s plans to fix the border, crime and inflation. This, as a recent Fox News Poll found, 32 % of voters say the economy is in excellent or good shape. It is the highest approval rating on the topic so far during Biden’s presidency. Though, the sentiment seems to be negative when you talk with voters.

“I need to make money to feed my family. I used to pay $200 a week for groceries… now I pay $450 a week. I’m not even making that anymore. So, it’s killing me,” said one Philadelphia voter.

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So far, Trump has not announced a vice president pick. But, said he does know who he will choose.

“Well, if you knew that, you would probably be up for a major raise. We have a lot of viewers who say, ‘who do you like, who do you like? ’There are so many different answers. We have a lot of good ones. I’ll be announcing it right around the time of the convention,” Trump said.

President Biden speaks in North Carolina – a state he’ll visit again shortly after the CNN Debate. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

After the debate, both candidates plan to stay in the South. Biden will stop in North Carolina, a state he lost to Trump back in 2020.

Trump will head to a rally in Virginia. It has been two decades since a Republican carried the commonwealth state in the race for the White House. The former president plans to change that.

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“We are actually two points up in Virginia. Virginia is not a state that a Republican generally wins and has not won in decades. We are leading in Virginia, and we are leading in Minnesota. That one hasn’t been won since 1972. I think we’re going to win a lot of places that people never even thought about, because our country is in dire shape to put it mildly. It’s doing badly,” Trump said.

The Trump campaign says a recent fact-check report debunking the claim that then-President Trump spoke favorably of neo-Nazis in 2017 shows President Biden and his campaign had promoted a “lie” and called on them to not promote the “hoax” again.

Left-leaning fact-checking website Snopes published a piece Saturday debunking claims promoted by President Biden and some members of the media that following the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, Trump called neo-Nazis “very fine people.” Biden has repeatedly cited the false claim, even saying it was the impetus for his 2020 White House run against Trump. 

Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital on Sunday that the Snopes fact check shows Biden and other “corrupt Democrats” promoted a “lie” and “hoax.” 

“The Charlottesville lie was another hoax perpetuated by the corrupt Democrats and their mouthpieces in the fake news media, just like the Hunter Biden laptop, the Russian collusion scandal and so many others, all in an attempt to smear President Trump. Joe Biden’s campaign must end any advertising that pushes this lie because President Trump has, once again, been proven right,” she said. 

LEFT-WING FACT-CHECKER ADMITS TRUMP NEVER CALLED CHARLOTTESVILLE NEO-NAZIS ‘VERY FINE PEOPLE’ IN BLOW TO BIDEN

Former President Trump told Columbia Journalism Review he had to fight off “unbelievably fake stories” during his presidency. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik/File)

Snopes detailed in its fact check that Trump was clear he was not calling neo-Nazis “fine people” when he made the comment at a press conference that year.

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“While Trump did say that there were ‘very fine people on both sides,’ he also specifically noted that he was not talking about neo-Nazis and White supremacists and said they should be ‘condemned totally.’ Therefore, we have rated this claim ‘False,'” Snopes wrote.

The fact check, which comes just days ahead of the first debate between Trump and Biden, now aligns with Trump’s longstanding argument that the remarks were taken out of context before they quickly spread on social media and were promoted by the left and members of the media. 

President Biden (Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The protests in Charlottesville in 2017, which played out across two days in August 2017, included White nationalists descending on the city who were met by hundreds of counterprotesters. The protests devolved into violence, including three deaths and dozens of injuries stemming from a car plowing through people and other attacks.

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Protesters are shown during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, 2017. (Evelyn Hockstein/For the Washington Post via Getty Images)

The protests were condemned by both Republicans and Democrats as a hateful display of bigotry, including Trump at the time, who said in a statement that such protests and violence have “no place in America.” 

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“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,” Trump said in August that year. Trump added days later in a press conference that he condemned the “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence” and came under fire from Democrats for his remarks that there was “blame on both sides” and “very fine people, on both sides.”

Biden cast the events in Charlottesville, and his framing of former President Trump’s response, as the incentive to run for the White House in 2020.

Former President Trump and President Biden (Getty Images)

“With those words, the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it,” Biden said in 2019 when announcing his candidacy.

Biden has repeatedly pointed to Charlottesville as a moment of shame for the nation, including on the fourth anniversary, when the White House released a statement saying the rally was a “battle for the soul of America was laid bare for all to see.” 

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Earlier this year, Biden was slammed for having his own “Charlottesville moment” as anti-Israel protests spread on college campuses nationwide in the wake of Hamas’ attack on the nation in October, sparking an ongoing war.

“I condemn the antisemitic protests. That’s why I have set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” Biden told reporters in April as the protests raged.

Critics of the president soon sounded off on social media that Biden’s comments echoed claims of what Trump said in 2017 about the Charlottesville riots.

Student protesters gather at their encampment on the Columbia University campus, April 29, 2024, in New York City. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

“This sure sounds like he’s ACTUALLY saying there are very fine people on both sides,” OutKick founder Clay Travis said.

The Federalist’s editor-in-chief, Mollie Hemingway, wrote, “President Biden says there are good people on both sides of October 7.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign for comment on the Snopes fact check and the Trump campaign’s response but did not immediately receive a response.

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

A young fan dressed as former President Trump was brought to tears when he got to meet the real-life former president.

A video shared to social media by Trump deputy director of communications Margo Martin shows Trump approaching his young fan, who was dressed in a suit and tie with a blonde wig made to match the hairstyle of the former president.

Trump can be seen in the video enthusiastically greeting the child and presenting him with a signed $20 bill before posing for pictures, making the young superfan tear up in the process.

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Former President Trump poses with a child dressed as him at Tony and Nick’s Steaks on June 22, 2024, in Philadelphia, before Trump spoke at Temple University. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“I like that kid! So, if your parents don’t want you, I’ll take you,” Trump quipped to the crowd, drawing laughter.

The video quickly went viral on X, garnering nearly 900,000 views as of 3 p.m. Sunday.

The video also drew thousands of reactions from users on X, many taking shots at Trump’s opponent in the election, President Biden.

Former President Trump enthusiastically greets the child and presents him with a signed $20 bill before posing for pictures. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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“Biden would never, and could never,” one user said.

“Can you imagine a young guy dressed up like Joe Biden with an ice cream cone in his hand and no hair on his head?” another user said.

“No videos of Biden ever doing things like this,” added another.

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Others commented on how the moment will likely be cherished by the young Trump admirer forever.

“What an unforgettable moment for this young man,” one user said.

A young fan dressed as Donald Trump looks up admiringly at the former president at Tony and Nick’s Steaks on June 22, 2024, in Philadelphia. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The viral moment happened during Trump’s swing through Philadelphia, with the former president meeting the young boy at the popular Tony and Nick’s sandwich shop.

Trump left a $500 tip at the restaurant, according to a report from Newsweek, taking the moment to also tout his proposal to make tips for restaurant workers tax-free.

Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said President Biden should “pray” for presidential immunity over his border policies that Graham said have opened the doors to violent illegal immigrants to carry out rapes and murders against Americans. 

“Joe Biden better hope and pray there’s presidential immunity, because when he allowed the killer of Laken Riley to be released on parole because [of] lack of capacity, I think he’s subject not only to lawsuit, but criminal prosecution – if there’s not presidential immunity,” Graham said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Graham’s comment came amid discussion about the Democratic Party’s increased criticism of the Supreme Court, including Biden saying earlier this month that the “Supreme Court has never been as out of kilter as it is today,” and the Senate possibly enforcing an ethics code on SCOTUS. 

The Republican senator argued that Democrats are attacking the high court to protect Biden’s record in office, including immigration policies that have led to more than 7 million illegal immigrants crossing the border. 

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Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks with Fox News’ Shannon Bream  (Fox News)

“The border is beyond broken. You have wars in Ukraine. You have the Mideast on fire. When it comes to enforcing the law, Joe Biden has been beyond reckless. He’s taken a parole statute that’s limited in nature and has given a million people parole,” Graham said. 

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Laken Riley poses for a photo posted to Facebook. Riley, a nursing student, was found dead near a lake on the University of Georgia campus on Feb. 22. An illegal immigrant has been charged with her murder. (Laken Riley/Facebook)

Graham cited the murder of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was discovered beaten to death in February after going for a run on the University of Georgia campus. The Augusta University student crossed paths with illegal immigrant Jose Antonio Ibarra, according to authorities, and died from blunt force trauma to the head. 

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President Biden speaks at Abbotts Creek Community Center during an event to promote his economic agenda in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Jan. 18, 2024. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

“Laken Riley’s murderer was paroled because they had lack of capacity in El Paso. They let him out under the parole statute because they were full. There’s nothing in the statute that says you can go cause you’re full. And he killed this lady. On and on and on. All of these women who’ve been raped and murdered have one thing in common. The people that killed them, raped them and murdered them were in our custody and let go, I think, illegally,” he continued before suggesting Biden could face prosecution over his border policies. 

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Donald Trump and Jack Smith (Getty Images)

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Presidential immunity has become a hot topic this election cycle, as former President Trump faces a bevy of court cases ahead of the 2024 election. The Supreme Court is expected to issue an opinion regarding whether Trump is immune from prosecution in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case, which is currently postponed indefinitely. 

Donors to President Biden’s re-election campaign are feeling the heat after former President Trump’s recent fundraising hauls erased what was seemingly an insurmountable cash gap.

“There was the strategy of raising all this money on the front end so we could have this huge edge,” a major Biden donor, who wanted to remain anonymous, told Politico in a report Sunday. “The whole point of it was to come out with a sizable cash advantage and, you know, we’re now even and it’s June.… I have no other word for it other than ‘depression’ among Biden supporters.”

The comments come after Trump was the beneficiary of a wave of donations, outraising Biden and the Democratic National Committee in back-to-back months and essentially erasing what was once a massive cash-on-hand advantage for Biden.

TRUMP CATCHES UP TO BIDEN IN CASH DASH, BUT CAN HE SPEND THE MONEY IN TIME?

President Biden and former President Trump (Getty Images)

Another major Biden donor, who was also granted anonymity by Politico, described the new fundraising developments as “disappointing, but not surprising.”

Trump’s massive fundraising hauls come after he clinched the GOP nomination in early March, recording another major surge after being convicted on 34 felony counts in New York in May. 

Trump’s haul also comes as Make America Great Again (MAGA) Inc., a top super PAC backing the former president, received a massive $50 million donation from conservative banker Timothy Mellon.

Despite the massive Trump haul in recent months, Biden’s campaign reported rebounding fundraising numbers in May, a needed push after a weak showing in April. Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg also gave a max donation of $1 million to the campaign last week, adding to the $19 million the former mayor had contributed to a pro-Biden super PAC.

Former President Trump speaks during a Buckeye Values PAC Rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16, 2024. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

BIDEN HAS A MASSIVE MAY FUNDRAISING HAUL, BUT COMES UP FAR SHORT OF TRUMP

Biden’s campaign also raised $40 million last week after major fundraising events in Los Angeles and Northern Virginia, while another major fundraiser in Philadelphia scheduled for Monday is already sold out, Politico reported. 

Nevertheless, the president finds himself behind in the money race for the first time in the general election campaign, with reports filed Thursday indicating that Trump and the Republican National Committee have $116.5 million in cash compared to the $91.6 million in the bank for Biden and the Democratic National Committee.

That new reality has some Democratic strategists spooked, especially with the numbers coming after the former president’s New York conviction.

President Biden speaks at a campaign event at Pullman Yards on March 9, 2024, in Atlanta. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)

“What Democrats should worry about is that it’s even within distance – that the money is going on at Trump’s side at such a clip,” Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic strategist, told Politico. “You would think a guy who’s convicted of crimes would be nowhere, but he’s everywhere financially. And that is a real problem for Democrats.

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“The challenger shouldn’t even be close on the money side, especially a guy who’s convicted of felonies,” Sheinkopf added. “How is this possible, is what the Democrats should be asking.… That’s what they should be worried about.”

The Biden and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Former President Trump’s campaign walked back a promise that the former president would “automatically” award green cards to migrants after they graduate from college.

“President Trump has made it clear that on day one of his new administration, he’s going to shut down the border and launch the largest mass deportation effort of illegal aliens in history,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement last week, according to a New York Post report, noting that the former president would include an “aggressive vetting process” and “exclude all communists, radical Islamists, Hamas supporters, America haters and public charges.”

The comments come after Trump’s appearance on the “All-in Podcast” last week, where the former president outlined an idea to give all foreign college graduates a green card with their diploma.

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Former President Trump (Sean Rayford/Getty Images/File)

“You graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country, and that includes junior colleges, too,” Trump said during the appearance.

The proposal received immediate pushback, with Center for Immigration Studies Executive Director Mark Krikorian telling the New York Post that such a handout was “a cockamamie proposal” that would prompt a “fire hose of foreign cash” by “stapling a green card to the diploma” of a U.S. college graduate.

“If someone earns a Ph.D. at a university in a hard science, I personally will drive to their house and give them a green card,” Krikorian said. “The issue is any foreign college graduate, even from a bogus two-year master’s program or gender studies [major], would get a green card.”

The critique was echoed by Chris Chmielenski, the president of the conservative Immigration Accountability Project, who argued such a plan “would reduce wages for all Americans, increase job competition, particularly for recent college graduates, and pose a national security threat.”

Conservative critics lashed out at Trump’s proposal. (Donald Trump 2024 campaign/File)

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“U.S. immigration policy must serve the interests of all Americans, not the interests of elite business leaders who seek cheap labor,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Biden campaign also took aim at the remarks, telling Fox News Digital that his proposal represented an “empty promise,” most notably to “the countless people that have been permanently damaged by his first-term in office.”

“Every chance Donald Trump got in office, he made it his mission to rip apart immigrant families for his own political gain,” campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz said. “He’s also proudly running to go even further in a second term, not only by openly echoing Nazi rhetoric around immigrants, but also by promising cruel policies like rounding up immigrants and putting them into mass detention camps.”

President Biden (Anna Moneymaker/File)

But Leavitt sought to clarify the president’s remarks in her statements, noting that such a program “would only apply to the most thoroughly vetted college graduates who would never undercut American wages or workers.”

“He believes, only after such vetting has taken place, we ought to keep the most skilled graduates who can make significant contributions to America,” Leavitt said. “This would only apply to the most thoroughly vetted college graduates who would never undercut American wages or workers.”

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The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Former Trump administration national security adviser Robert O’Brien on Sunday laid out a potential game plan to divide the so-called “axis of evil” as relations continue to grow between Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.

O’Brien appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” and remarked that the Biden administration’s “lack of American leadership” has allowed this new alliance to flourish.

“We haven’t seen peace or strength,” O’Brien said of America’s role on the world stage under Biden.

When asked how former President Trump would drive a wedge between the axis of evil after Russian President Vladimir Putin was seen driving with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week, O’Brien said the first thing the U.S. can do is increase domestic energy production.

RUSSIA ‘OPEN TO DIALOGUE’ WITH US: KREMLIN

Former national security adviser Robert O’Brien on Sunday laid out a game plan should former President Trump return to office that would divide the so-called “axis of evil.” (Eloisa Lopez/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

“These countries are reliant on Russian energy to run their economies,” he said. “We need to increase our energy production.”

The former Trump official said Biden diminished American energy production after taking office and canceling the Keystone XL pipeline in the U.S., while allowing Putin to open the Nord Stream Two pipeline that runs from Russia to Germany.

Alongside increasing U.S. energy production, O’Brien called for sanctions on the Russian Federation Central Bank, as well as cutting back on Russian oil sales. Regarding Tehran, O’Brien said the U.S. and its allies “need to put maximum pressure back on the Iranians.”

CHINA SILENT AS RUSSIA AND NORTH KOREA FORGE NEW DEFENSE PACT, RAISING REGIONAL POWER SHIFT CONCERNS

In addition to those steps, O’Brien said that rebuilding the U.S. military and Navy, and getting “our shipyards producing ships again,” would help assert “peace through strength.”

“Those are the things that’ll divide the alliance, this axis of evil,” O’Brien said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin prior to their talks in Beijing on May 16. (Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

After failing to stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, O’Brien said the U.S. must take a strong posture in Asia to deter China from a similar invasion of Taiwan. He said moving U.S. Marines out of Germany and other garrisons in Europe to Guam, Hawaii, the Philippines and Australia would act as a strong message to China not to invade.

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“The key is to deter war, not to fight and win a war, which we would need to do if it happens,” O’Brien said. “Strength will deter the Chinese from invading. It’s not talk. It’s how they see our force posture.”

Celebrities and elites at the highest echelons of American society and industry have showered President Biden’s re-election campaign with massive donations, which could undercut the 46th president’s homespun “Scranton Joe” and “Amtrak Joe” image. 

Biden took the stage of Los Angeles’s Peacock Theater earlier this month, when he was flanked by former President Obama and late night host Jimmy Kimmel. The audience, performers and others attending the event in Biden’s support included Hollywood elites such as George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Barbra Streisand, Jack Black, Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn and Mindy Kaling, Vanity Fair reported. The star-studded fundraiser was a monetary success for the president’s re-election campaign, shattering previous Democratic fundraising benchmarks with $30 million in donations, the Biden campaign said earlier this month. 

The swank fundraiser, however, comes at a time when inflation continues throttling the average American household, and the president pitches himself to voters as a man of the people with humble roots in Scranton, Pennsylvania. 

“2024 will be a choice between two very different economic visions for America: Donald Trump, who sees the world from his country club at Mar-a-Lago, and President Biden, who sees the world from kitchen tables in Scranton,” Biden’s campaign website reads. 

BIDEN LOOKS TO CAPITALIZE ON STAR-STUDDED HOLLYWOOD FUNDRAISER AFTER TRUMP’S MASSIVE CASH HAUL IN BLUE STATE

President Biden laughs with former President Obama during a campaign fundraiser at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on June 15, 2024. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

TRUMP CATCHES UP TO BIDEN IN CASH DASH, BUT CAN HE SPEND THE MONEY IN TIME?

Former President Trump, UFC president Dana White during the UFC 295 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 11, 2023, in New York City. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

The 2023-2024 election cycle is anticipated to be the most costly in history, with Forbes reporting political ad spending would top $10 billion across White House and congressional races. 

Following Biden announcing in April of last year that he’d “finish the job” and run for re-election, the Biden-Harris campaign amped up its fundraisers for the anticipated rematch against former President Trump. 

President Biden speaks with host Jimmy Kimmel as he makes his first in-person appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in Hollywood, California, June 8, 2022. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

As Hollywood’s writers’ strike raged last year, Biden engaged with Broadway stars to boost campaign funds, with performers such as Sara Bareilles, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt appearing on behalf of Biden in September for a star-studded fundraiser, the AP reported. 

BIDEN HAS A MASSIVE MAY FUNDRAISING HAUL, BUT COMES UP FAR SHORT OF TRUMP

As 2023 drew to a close, Biden went on a Hollywood-focused fundraiser blitz. Singer James Taylor performed during a Boston fundraiser in December, before the president traveled to Los Angeles, where he held a series of fundraisers, including one joined by filmmaker Steven Spielberg, director and actor Rob Reiner and producer Shonda Rhimes, in addition to California politicos such as Gov. Gavin Newsom and Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff. Singer Lenny Kravitz performed during the event, which cost $1,000 to $500,000 per ticket, the Los Angeles Daily News reported at the time. 

BLOOMBERG, CONSERVATIVE BANKING HEIR MELLON, SHELL OUT MILLIONS TO BOOST BIDEN, TRUMP

Vice President Kamala Harris also attended swank fundraisers last year, including one on Martha’s Vineyard. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Vice President Kamala Harris also attended swank fundraisers last year, including one on Martha’s Vineyard with “Suits” actor Wendell Pierce during an event billed as “grassroots” that sold tickets for $50 to $10,000. 

BILL AND HILLARY CLINTON TAP INTO THEIR MONEY MEN FOR BIDEN’S BATTLE AGAINST TRUMP

Hollywood stars and executives were among the first to pad Biden’s campaign coffers ahead of the election cycle kicking off in earnest this year. Former Walt Disney Studios chair Jeffrey Katzenberg, for example, made an $889,600 contribution to Biden last year, as did Lin-Manuel Miranda, when he donated $20,000, Deadline reported last year. Other Hollywood and tech leaders made sizable donations to the Biden Victory Fund, DNC, or other Democratic initiatives in 2023, such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman donating $200,000, actor and voice actor Seth MacFarlane donating $100,000, and music composer Michael Skloff donating $100,000, the outlet reported. 

The Biden campaign and Democratic National Committee announced earlier this year that they raised $97 million in the last three months of 2023, which PBS reported was “boosted” by Biden’s swank events with Hollywood stars. 

President Biden and former Presidents Obama and Clinton during a campaign fundraising event at Radio City Music Hall in New York, March 28, 2024. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)

The Biden-Harris campaign continued courting celebrities and other moneyed elites this year, including at New York City’s Radio City in March, which was hosted by actress Mindy Kaling, with late night host Stephen Colbert moderating a conversation with Biden, Obama and former President Bill Clinton. Special guests such as Queen Latifah, Lizzo and Ben Platt were also in attendance, according to media reports. The event pulled in more than $26 million, according to the campaign. 

LATE NIGHT HOSTS AVOIDING CHANCES TO MOCK BIDEN DESPITE ‘HARD-EARNED REPUTATION AS A GAFFE MACHINE’: REPORT

Harris also headlined fundraising events in her native California earlier this year, where she joined a clean energy leader in San Francisco, before another stop at the home of author Robert Mailer Anderson and Oracle heiress Nicola Miner in the city’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. The Pacific Heights fundraiser cost attendees upward of $100,00 per person, and included support from theater director Jonathan Moscone and Mayor London Breed, as well as a performance from singer Carole King, the San Francisco Standard reported at the time. 

Trump, whose real estate background and reality TV success cemented him in Hollywood’s orbit pre-politics, has also held high-profile fundraisers this election cycle, but seldom with movie elites. Instead, he has held swank events at his Mar-a-Lago estate, met with residents of wealthy areas such as Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood, and has attended high-profile public events at Madison Square Garden, but not for fundraising purposes. 

President Biden is seen speaking in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Biden previously had a massive fundraising advantage over Trump in the 2024 race for the White House, but recent windfalls following Trump’s conviction in the New York criminal trial have essentially erased Biden’s lead, Fox News Digital reported this weekend. Trump and the RNC notched their second consecutive month in May of outraising Biden and the DNC, all while not yet launching a general election ad buy. Biden’s campaign, conversely, has spent at least $65 million on ad purchases. 

LATE-NIGHT DNCTV? COLBERT, KIMMEL FUNDRAISE FOR PRESIDENT BIDEN

“The only people in America who support Joe Biden’s failing campaign are elitist Hollywood celebrities,” Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement earlier this month. 

Biden’s ritzy fundraisers were also slammed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last week by Fox News contributor Daniel Henninger, who noted that after decades of the Democratic Party benefiting from Hollywood money, the 2024 election cycle could change the game for the left-wing party as inflation continues spiraling. 

Demonstrators rally before President Biden’s fundraiser on March 28, 2024, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. (Alex Kent/Getty Images)

“The Democratic Party’s celebrity dependency has been background noise for decades and not a problem… until now. This presidential election remains closely contested. With the cost of living the No. 1 issue, each swing-state vote deserves attention. In this high-stakes context, the spectacle of the incumbent president jetting from Europe to Hollywood is the kind of look Mr. Biden and his party don’t need. He’s Hollywood Joe,” Henniger wrote. 

“​​But notice that on the day Mr. Biden tapped the Hollywood ATM, Mr. Trump campaigned at a black church in Detroit. It is becoming hard to suppress the reality reported in polls that Mr. Trump, former host of “The Apprentice,” is peeling off layers of the traditional Democratic coalition – blacks, Hispanics, younger Americans and possibly even Jewish voters. The Democratic base once had something resembling a common identity, but not so much anymore. And it’s getting late to fix that,” he continued. 

Biden’s campaign did face criticism last month when actor Robert DeNiro headlined a campaign event outside the Manhattan courthouse where Trump faced – and was ultimately found guilty – 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Actor Robert De Niro points to a supporter of former President Trump following a news conference outside Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, on May 28, 2024. ( Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Donald Trump wants to destroy not only the city, but the country. And eventually he could destroy the world,” De Niro said at the press conference. Biden and Harris were present during the campaign event. 

Following his remarks, De Niro was shouted down by supporters as a “washed-up actor” and “trash,” and was accused of being a “paid actor for the DNC.” 

“You’re a f—ing idiot,” De Niro shouted at one of the pro-Trump protesters. 

The event was subsequently slammed on social media by critics as a “terrible look for Democrats,” and compared to the satirical political comedy show “Veep.” 

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign for comment regarding recent star-studded fundraisers and if they could undercut the president’s “Scranton Joe” image while inflation continues spiraling this election cycle. 

The same Las Vegas-area juge attacked by a violent offender who hurled himself over the bench in a viral courtroom video has made headlines again for dismissing the “fake electors” case related to the 2020 presidential election.

Clark County, Nevada, District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus on Friday threw out the battleground state’s indictment against six Republicans prosecutors say illegally submitted certificates to Congress certifying Trump as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. In doing so, Holthus said the office of Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat, chose the wrong venue for the case. 

Clark County, where Holthus presides, is Nevada’s largest and contains Las Vegas, the state’s most Democratic-leaning city. 

Richard Wright, an attorney for one of the defendants, state GOP chairman Michael McDonald, accused Ford of bringing the case before a grand jury in Las Vegas instead of Carson City or Reno, northern Nevada cities in a more Republican region where the defendants allegedly signed and submitted fraudulent documents in a scheme to overturn President Biden’s victory.

NEVADA MAN SEEN ATTACKING CLARK COUNTY JUDGE IN VIRAL VIDEO SENTENCED TO UP TO 4 YEARS

Court filings by the defendants argue the six Republicans met in Carson City, the capital of Nevada, located in a different county. 

“What exactly occurred here to give us jurisdiction?” Holthus said during Friday’s hearing, according to the New York Times. “I mean, let’s face it, the majority of this happened elsewhere, the way I read it.”

The judge called off the trial, which had been scheduled for January, for defendants also including Clark County Republican Party chairman Jesse Law; national party committee member Jim DeGraffenreid; national and Douglas County committee member Shawn Meehan; Storey County clerk Jim Hindle; and Eileen Rice, a party member from the Lake Tahoe area. Each was accused of offering a false instrument for filing and uttering a forged instrument — felonies carrying a penalty of up to four or five years in prison.

Defendant Deobra Redden lunges toward Clark County District Judge Mary Kay Holthus at a sentencing hearing in Las Vegas on Jan. 3, 2024. (Screenshot/Fox News)

Defense attorneys bluntly declared the case dead, saying that to bring it now before another grand jury in another venue would violate a three-year statute of limitations that expired last December.

The judge decided that even though McDonald and Law live in Las Vegas, “everything took place up north.”

“Forum shopping? Absolutely,” Monti Jordana Levy, a lawyer for Rice, said, according to the Times. 

A spokesperson for Ford said the state attorney general’s office disagreed with the judge’s decision and “will be appealing immediately.”

This is not the first time a case involving Judge Holthus drew national attention.

While presiding over an unrelated case months ago, Holthus was gearing up to inform defendant Deobra Redden of his punishment inside a Clark County District courtroom on Jan. 3, before the scene descended into chaos when Redden was denied bond. Redden was being sentenced on a battery charge stemming from a baseball bat attack last year. 

Judge Mary Kay Holthus presides in court in Las Vegas, March 4, 2024.  (Wade Vandervort/Las Vegas Sun via AP, File)

In a video obtained by Fox News Digital, Redden’s attorney requested the judge give his client probation. 

“I think it’s time he got a taste of something else,” Holthus responded. 

NATHAN WADE’S MEDIA TOUR ANNOYS FANI WILLIS ALLIES IN GEORGIA: ‘UNNECESSARY DISTRACTION’

Video showed Redden then flying in the air over the bench with his arms and legs wide open, before landing on the judge. 

Nevada GOP chair Michael McDonald, right, shakes hands with presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump, Jan. 27, 2024, in Las Vegas.  (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

The defendant, who had grabbed the judge’s hair, had to be wrestled off her by her clerk, Michael Lasso, and several court and jail officers, some of whom threw punches.

Lasso was treated for cuts on his hands and a marshal was hospitalized for a dislocated shoulder and a gash on his forehead. Holthus suffered some injuries but was back to work the next day. 

Five days after the attack, Redden, with his hands bound and netting over his face, was hauled back into court where Holthus completed sentencing on the battery charge, sending him to prison for up to four years. 

A grand jury on Feb. 8 indicted Redden on nine charges in connection to the courtroom attack, including attempted murder, battery on a protected person, and extortion by threat, KVVU reported. 

His attorney, Carl Arnold, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity on behalf of his client, arguing that Redden was off his medication and in a “delusional state” at the time of the attack. 

In late March, the start of the trial against Redden was delayed from April until at least September. 

Deobra Redden, who was seen in a viral video attacking District Judge Mary Kay Holthus, appears again in front of Holthus to complete his sentencing at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas on Jan. 8, 2024.  (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Nevada is one of seven presidential battleground states where prosecutors brought “fake elector” cases related to Trump’s 2020 campaign. Others are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. None of those cases are scheduled to go to trial before the 2024 presidential election. 

Friday’s decision comes after a similar case was delayed indefinitely in Georgia amid an investigation into Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis‘ relationship with a prosecutor she hired. 

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A federal case from Washington, D.C., has also been delayed until the Supreme Court rules on Trump’s immunity claims. 

Nevada’s case, filed last December, focused on the actions of six defendants. Criminal cases in three other states focus on many more — 16 in Michigan, 19 in Georgia and 18 in Arizona.

Meehan is the only defendant in Nevada not to have been named by the state party as a delegate to the 2024 Republican National Convention next month in Milwaukee. 

Fox News’ Greg Norman and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The left-leaning fact checking website Snopes acknowledged Saturday that former President Trump never called neo-Nazis “very fine people” during his press conference following the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally in 2017.

Critics of Trump have claimed for years that he equated neo-Nazis with counterprotesters following the event. President Biden was chief among those critics, citing the supposed incident as a main reason for launching his 2020 campaign. 

“While Trump did say that there were ‘very fine people on both sides,’ he also specifically noted that he was not talking about neo-Nazis and white supremacists and said they should be ‘condemned totally.’ Therefore, we have rated this claim ‘False,'” Snopes wrote.

The Snopes fact check now aligns with years of arguments from Trump’s camp, who long stated, backed by transcript and video, that his comments were taken out of context. The fact-checker notes that the false claim about Trump’s comments “spread like wildfire” on the left, eventually being cited as a cornerstone of Biden’s election campaign.

LOUISIANA GOVERNOR DEFENDS 10 COMMANDMENTS IN SCHOOLS MANDATE: ‘THE US IS FOUNDED ON JUDEO-CHRISTIAN VALUES’

The left-wing fact checker Snopes admitted Saturday that former President Trump never called neo-Nazis “very fine people” during his press conference following the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally in 2017. (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)

When Biden released his 2020 campaign announcement video, the first words he said in it were “Charlottesville, Virginia.”

WHITE HOUSE ‘CHEAP FAKES’ RESPONSE TO BIDEN VIDEOS PART OF PUSH FOR SOCIAL MEDIA CENSORSHIP: EXPERT

“The President of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it,” Biden claimed in the video. “And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I’d ever seen in my lifetime.”

The Snopes fact check now aligns with years of arguments from Trump’s camp, who long stated, backed by transcript and video, that his comments were taken out of context. The fact-checker notes that the false claim about Trump’s comments “spread like wildfire” on the Left, eventually being cited as a cornerstone of Biden’s election campaign.

Snopes’ ruling removes key ammunition from Biden’s arsenal just days before he and Trump are scheduled to meet in their first debate this week.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE DOUBLES DOWN ON ‘CHEAP FAKE’ BIDEN VIDEOS: ‘SO MUCH MISINFORMATION’

The pair will clash in Atlanta in a televised debate hosted by CNN on Thursday.

Presidents Bidena and Trump will clash in Atlanta in a televised debate hosted by CNN on Thursday. (Left: (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images), Right: (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images))

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Biden has secluded himself at Camp David for the weekend to prepare for the debate. Meanwhile, Trump is staying on the campaign trail before heading to Atlanta later this week.

Former President Trump claimed that “few communities have suffered more under the Biden regime than Philadelphia,” while speaking to supporters at Temple University on Saturday evening in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania. 

“Under crooked Joe, the city of brotherly love is being ravaged by bloodshed and crime,” Trump said while discussing recent shootings and crime statistics. 

He added: “Under the Trump administration, we’re going to bring law and order and safety back to our streets. We are going to bring success back to our schools. We’re going to bring prosperity back to our forgotten communities. And we are going to liberate our once great cities and make Philadelphia better and more beautiful than ever before.” 

Trump told the packed crowd inside the Liacouras Center’s 10,000-seat auditorium, “With your vote, Joe Biden’s wave of bedlam and death and terror will begin to recede the moment I take the oath of office.”

TRUMP, BIDEN AIM TO USE DUELING RALLIES IN THESE STATES POST-DEBATE TO PUT EACH OTHER ON DEFENSE

Trump spoke to a packed crowd at Philadelphia’s Temple University on Saturday evening.  (Anna Moneymaker/Jim Watson/Getty Images)

He also discussed illegal immigration and noted that some family members of Rachel Morin, a mother of five who was allegedly murdered last year on a Maryland hiking trail by Victor Martinez Hernandez — a migrant in the country illegally — were in the rally audience. 

“She wanted to stay in good shape and she ended up getting killed,” Trump said, adding that he had just spoken to Morin’s mother.

“And a lot of Rachel’s family is here. I have to say that they’re incredible people,” he said, adding that “they’ve gone through hell.” 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN EXPANDS OPERATIONS IN MINNESOTA, VIRGINIA WITH OPENING OF ‘TRUMP FORCE 47′ FIELD OFFICES

Trump also said he was “deeply honored” to be joined at the rally by eight family members of service members killed in Biden’s “catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

He said to the families, “They’re all looking down right now and they’re proud of you, the parents and sisters and brothers. There are a lot of them here.” 

Pennsylvania Senate candidate David McCormick also came up on stage during the rally, two months after Trump endorsed him. 

Trump supporters cheering as he speaks in Philadelphia on Saturday.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“We have a man who’s a warrior, a great military person, an incredible guy, and we have to elect him as the U.S. senator from your state,” Trump said of McCormick. 

McCormick told the crowd, “as a father of six daughters, it breaks my heart to hear about these young, young women that are raped and murdered by illegal migrants. Rachel’s story is a heartbreaking thing. As a native son of Pennsylvania, it breaks my heart that 60% of Pennsylvanians are living paycheck to paycheck.” 

He added, “We need a new president in the White House that’s going to get our country back on track.” 

FORMER OBAMA FUNDRAISER SAYS SHE’S DIVORCING THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, VOTING FOR TRUMP FOR THE FIRST TIME

Trump’s Philadelphia rally came just days ahead of his first debate with President Biden next Thursday, and after rallies in other deeply Democratic areas like the Bronx, the Jersey Shore and Detroit. 

Winning the swing state in November is key for both Trump and Biden. Trump won the state narrowly in 2016, but Biden edged him out in 2020. 

Supporters cheer as they wait to hear former President Trump speak at a rally in Philadelphia on Saturday.  (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Earlier Saturday, Trump spoke to conservative and faith voters at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority conference in Washington, D.C. 

“Never again will the federal government be used to target Americans of faith,” Trump said at the event, referencing crackdowns on gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Merchandise supporting Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump appears before the start of a campaign rally on Saturday.  (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

He got what appeared to be the loudest applause when speaking on illegal immigration, vowing to begin the “largest deportation operation in American history” on his first day in office.

HOW BIDEN AND TRUMP ARE PREPARING FOR NEXT WEEK’S PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Trump greeted people at Tony and Nick’s Steaks in Philadelphia ahead of the rally.  (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Before Trump arrived in Philadelphia, supporters began to gather in the Liacouras Center, waving American flags and sporting Trump gear and “Make America Great Again” signs. 

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On his way to the rally, Trump stopped at local Philadelphia sandwich shop Tony and Nick’s Steaks to greet customers and employees.

Trump left the employees a $500 tip on his sandwich, reiterating that he’ll end taxes on tips if elected, former New Jersey Senate candidate Mike Crispi said on X. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is laying the groundwork for a vote to codify Roe v. Wade and the right to an abortion next month as he continues to press his Republican colleagues ahead of pivotal November elections. 

“A few moments ago, I took the first procedural step to place on the legislative calendar the Reproductive Freedom for Women Act, sponsored by Sen. Murray and myself, and cosponsored by all the women senators on our side,” Schumer recently revealed in floor remarks, referencing Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. “This measure affirms a woman’s fundamental right to choose, and calls for enshrining the protections of Roe v. Wade into law, as most Americans say they want.”

The bill could be scheduled for a formal test vote as soon as early July. Republicans would be expected to deny the measure from reaching 60 votes to clear the procedural hurdle, as they have on the past two reproductive bills teed up by Democrats. 

DEMS HESITATE ON ATTENDING NETANYAHU SPEECH TO CONGRESS AS PARTY SPLINTERS ON ISRAEL

Schumer revealed plans to bring a vote on codifying Roe v. Wade. (Getty Images)

Schumer held two votes in the past month on contraception and in vitro fertilization (IVF), which were both criticized by Republicans for being broad with wide-ranging implications. 

“You can tell the season we’re in. We’re in the political season, based upon what the Democrats and the Senate are, and are not, spending their time and energy considering,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., criticized. “Clearly, the goal of Senate Democrats and Sen. Schumer is to have a summer of show votes.”

GOP PLOTS MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR AD SPEND IN SWING STATES WITH SENATE MAJORITY IN SIGHT

Thune criticized what he called “show votes.” (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“With November fast approaching, Republicans continue to show the American people where they really are: with MAGA extremists, and not with the majority of America,” Schumer said in his floor remarks, referencing the fast-approaching congressional elections. “That’s what Republican senators and House members are doing.”

The upcoming vote to codify Roe v. Wade and the right to an abortion was slammed by top Pro-Life group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. 

“This radical resolution has nothing to do with helping women. It says nothing about empowering women with the resources and support they deserve. Instead, it just doubles down on the Democrats’ radical agenda of all-trimester abortion, everywhere in America,” said President Marjorie Dannenfelser in a statement. 

DEMOCRATS EYE TAKE DOWN OF FEDERAL PROVISION COULD AFFECT ABORTION BY MAIL

SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser slammed the bill. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

In a May Fox News Poll, abortion was revealed to be the top “deal-breaker” issue among all registered voters and among Democrats. It was also the biggest single issue for suburban women, with 24% of them designating it as such. Abortion was the top issue among Black voters (17%), people with a college degree (17%), and voters under 30 years old (16%).

Additionally, the poll showed voters trust President Biden more than they do former President Trump when it comes to abortion. Among registered voters, 52% said they trust Biden to do a better job on the issue than Trump, who received 44%. 

TRUMP-BACKED CANDIDATE WINS VIRGINIA’S REPUBLICAN SENATE PRIMARY TO TAKE ON TIM KAINE

Abortion rights rally at the Washington Monument before a march to the U.S. Supreme Court, May 14, 2022. (Jose Luis Magana/AFP via Getty Images)

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The issue of abortion is considered Republicans’ biggest vulnerability going into the November elections, with Trump stating on several occasions that he believes abortion should be legislated by each state, and Republican candidates in swing states and districts tending to follow his position. 

With that in mind, Democrats have doubled down on abortion, bringing it to public attention whenever possible, and similarly looking to put Republican lawmakers on record with unfavorable votes such as those laid out by Schumer. 

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

A potential name on former President Trump’s running mate shortlist is being lauded for his “massive” bipartisan appeal by political insiders who say his possible selection could spell trouble for President Biden in key swing states this November.

Trump has suggested he will announce his pick for vice president at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next month, and is rumored to be considering a long list of names that notably includes Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a rising star within the party.

“He’s brought to the job skills honed by decades of helping buy and improve companies, taking them from good or broken to great!” veteran Republican strategist Karl Rove told Fox News Digital, referencing Youngkin’s experience in the private sector prior to successfully running for governor in 2021.

TRUMP FIRES UP MAJOR FAITH GATHERING JUST DAYS AHEAD OF FIRST DEBATE CLASH WITH BIDEN

From left, House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and South Carolina Gov. Tim Scott. All have been floated as possible vice presidential running mates for former President Trump. (Getty Images)

“In doing so, he’s earned a reputation for strong leadership and making government work for the people,” Rove said, praising his so far “successful” tenure leading a Democrat-leaning state while “pursuing an ambitious agenda of education reform, parental rights, economic growth and job creation.”

Rove added that Youngkin’s “victory in a state Biden won by 10 points causes many observers to stress his bipartisan appeal,” a point fellow Republican strategist Erin Perrine said extended to his “governance success” and reflected his “ability to appeal across party lines.”

Perrine told Fox that Youngkin’s strong approval ratings across Virginia, which polls put at over 50%, was because of his “effective leadership,” and that his appeal to even Democrats “would be absolutely massive during a general election campaign.”

“Couple that with Virginia showing signs of possibly being competitive due to dissatisfaction within the Democratic base toward Biden, who would need to count on the support of deeply blue Northern Virginia to win the state,” Perrine said.

A Fox News poll released earlier this month showed Trump and Biden in a dead heat with voters in Virginia, a state no Republican presidential candidate has won since former President George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004.

INSIDERS REVEAL HOW BIDEN, TRUMP ARE PREPPING FOR THE 1ST 2024 PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks during the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference at the Washington Hilton on June 22, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

“Donors appreciate Youngkin’s brand of Republican politics, which balances conservative values with pragmatic governance and could help with bringing in more dollars to the campaign,” Perrine said, adding that another of his “major advantages” was the “ease of his relationship with Trump” while other potential running mates “fight so hard to get in front of Trump and have him like them.” 

“Couple that with the potential to flip Virginia electorally. In 2021, Youngkin defeated Democrat and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a state President Joe Biden had won by 10 points just a year earlier. That victory shows his capability to attract swing voters and energize the Republican base in pivotal states, enhancing the GOP’s electoral prospects.”

Democratic strategist Kevin Walling also noted Youngkin’s ability to attract support from across party lines, crediting his “sunny optimism” that he said plays well across the commonwealth, and led to “a unique coalition of MAGA, traditional Republicans, and independents” putting him in the governor’s mansion.

“He could possibly help win over Nikki Haley voters, independents, and maybe some disaffected Democrats as a balance on the ticket,” he said. “Yet, Trump seems to care less about optimism, electability and balance, and more about picking someone who will just be his attack dog and ‘yes man.'”

While Youngkin “shocked the political universe” with his stunning victory in 2021, Walling said that success, as well as his high approval rating, didn’t translate to victories in legislative elections last year when Republicans lost control of the Virginia House of Delegates and fell short of winning a majority in the Virginia Senate.

INSIDERS PREDICT RUST BELT REPUBLICAN, POSSIBLE TRUMP VP PICK, COULD FLIP BIDEN VOTES IN KEY SWING STATES

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks during the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference on Saturday in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

“While he was a very successful business person before his only campaign, which would seem to mesh with Donald Trump’s background, he may be much more well suited for a cabinet position in the Trump administration or as the frontrunner in 2028 if Trump loses in 2024 again,” Walling said.

“Youngkin is worrisome as a nominee in 2028, and would be a worrisome vice presidential pick in 2024. But I think there’s zero chance he’s the party’s nominee for vice president this cycle.”

Rove and Perrine also argued there were some downsides to Youngkin’s potential selection, including aspects of his private business career and his relatively small amount of experience holding elected office.

“He’s in his first, and only, term and has only one campaign under his belt,” Rove said, adding he would likely face scrutiny for being extremely wealthy from his career in finance.

“Youngkin is popular in Virginia but not as widely known on the national stage as other potential VP candidates. His appeal overlaps with that of North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Sen. Tim Scott, meaning he might not stand out in terms of fundraising potential compared,” Perrine said. 

DEMOCRATS ‘FEAR’ THIS POSSIBLE TRUMP VP PICK WHO ‘SOULD SPELL THE END FOR BIDEN’: INSIDERS

Former President Trump and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin met for the first time earlier this month. (Trump Campaign)

“Additionally, Youngkin’s pragmatic, CEO-level approach is nicely wired to navigating the business community, whereas other VP candidates have been members on Capitol Hill, which would mean the Hill and its twists and turns are a little more uncharted for Youngkin than others, but a strong background in relationship building that can still balance it,” she said.

A source close to Youngkin told Fox News Digital the governor was not looking to elevate himself amid Trump’s running mate search. 

“There’s no ambition here,” the source said, adding Youngkin’s only goal was to help Trump compete against Biden in Virginia. “The focus is winning, and that decision is up to the president and his team.”

Youngkin, who largely kept his distance from Trump during his 2021 campaign, told Fox News Digital in an interview earlier this month that he “fully endorsed” the former president in his bid to oust Biden, and said he planned “to enthusiastically campaign” for him to win.

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The governor spoke just ahead of Trump at Saturday’s Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority conference in Washington, D.C., issuing a call to action to get the former president back into the White House, as well as for strengthened Republican majorities in Congress.

Youngkin also met Trump for the first time earlier this month, fanning the already circulating rumors of his potential running mate consideration, although there have notably been no reports or confirmations he’s actually been included in any ongoing vetting process.

Others who have been floated as possibilities to join Trump on the Republican ticket include House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

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.

Former President Trump will rally at Temple University in North Philadelphia on Saturday evening, just days ahead of his first debate with President Biden next Thursday. 

Trump’s stop in Philadelphia comes after rallies in other deeply Democratic areas like the Bronx, the Jersey Shore and Detroit. 

Winning the swing state in November is key for both Trump and Biden. Trump won the state narrowly in 2016, but Biden edged him out in 2020. 

Trump’s campaign said the former president would “highlight how Biden’s weak presidency is devastating American families, which is why only 34 percent of Pennsylvanians approve of the job Joe Biden is doing” at the Pennsylvania rally. 

TRUMP, BIDEN AIM TO USE DUELING RALLIES IN THESE STATES POST-DEBATE TO PUT EACH OTHER ON DEFENSE

Supporters cheer as they wait to hear former President Trump speak at a rally in Philadelphia Saturday.  (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Earlier Saturday, Trump spoke to conservative and faith voters at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority conference in Washington, D.C. 

“Never again will the federal government be used to target Americans of faith,” Trump said at the event, referencing crackdowns on gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Merchandise supporting Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump appears before the start of a campaign rally on Saturday.  (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

He got what appeared to be the loudest applause when speaking on illegal immigration, vowing to begin the “largest deportation operation in American history” on his first day in office.

HOW BIDEN AND TRUMP ARE PREPARING FOR NEXT WEEK’S PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Trump’s campaign said ahead of the Philadelphia rally that “Pennsylvanians are feeling the effects of Biden’s failed policies where it hurts the most – their wallets. Life is excruciatingly expensive under Joe Biden, with prices spiking more than 17% since Biden took office. Run-away inflation caused by Bidenomics is costing the average family in Pennsylvania nearly $1,000 per month.”

Trump greeted people at Tony and Nick’s Steaks in Philadelphia ahead of the rally.  (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Before Trump arrived in Philadelphia, supporters began to gather in the Liacouras Center’s 10,000-seat auditorium, waving American flags and sporting Trump gear and Make America Great Again signs. 

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On his way to the rally, Trump stopped at local Philadelphia sandwich shop Tony and Nick’s Steaks to greet customers and employees.

Trump left the employees a $500 tip on his sandwich, reiterating that he’ll end taxes on tips if elected, former New Jersey Senate candidate Mike Crispi said on X. 

New York City officials are boasting that a taxpayer-funded program that hands out $350 per week to migrant families is helping to set an example for the rest of the nation on how to manage the “national humanitarian crisis” created by mass illegal immigration.

Although the program has drawn opposition from critics who question giving illegal immigrants no-strings handouts from the city’s strapped coffers, officials seem to think the program is a major success.

“New York City is leading the nation in managing this national humanitarian crisis, having cared for more than 203,900 migrants since the spring of 2022 and helping more than 65 percent move out of our care and take the next steps in their journeys,” a city hall spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

New York City officials began giving out prepaid debit cards to migrant families residing in the Big Apple earlier this year. The prepaid cards – the first of which were distributed in March as part of the city’s Immediate Response Cards (IRC) program – are meant to be used only to purchase essential items like food.

MIGRANT ARRESTED IN BROAD DAYLIGHT RAPE OF 13-YEAR-OLD IN NEW YORK PARK

The prepaid cards – the first of which were distributed in March as part of the city’s Immediate Response Cards program – are meant to be used only to purchase essential items like food. (Getty Images)

Through the program, the city hall spokesperson noted that New York City has “helped 900 migrant families – including over 1,300 children – purchase their own food and baby supplies at stores that sell groceries and convenience items.”

“This has helped circulate approximately $600,000 back into the New York City economy,” the spokesperson added.

But it is unclear exactly how much the city has spent on the program to date. The effort is part of what was reported earlier this year to be a $53 million pilot program to hand out prepaid credit cards to migrant families housed in hotels despite public outcry.

Access to the program, according to the mayor’s office, is limited to those in a separate program that provides four-week hotel stays to families with children, and families expecting children.

Allowances for illegal immigrants residing in the city are distributed on a weekly basis until the end of their four-week hotel stays, with families of four with two children under the age of five receiving up to nearly $350 each week.

The IRC program, the city said, is in a subsection of the locations where the city is providing shelter and care to migrants, representing less than one percent of the total population of migrants currently under the city’s care.

Asylum seekers line up in front of the historic Roosevelt Hotel, converted into a city-run shelter for newly arrived migrant families, in New York City on September 27, 2023. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

LOCAL OFFICIALS ATTACK NEW YORK CITY PLAN TO HOUSE MIGRANTS IN STATEN ISLAND CHURCH: ‘HURTING THIS COMMUNITY’

At the start of the program, the cards were reportedly being distributed at the city’s arrival center, the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, to the migrant families who are staying at hotels that are being used as emergency shelters.

Adams, a Democrat, vehemently defended the program and the “misinformation” surrounding it earlier this year.

Appearing before a state legislative budget hearing in Albany in February, Adams said, “We’re not giving people American Express cards.”

“We found that the food delivery service that we set up during the emergency – we could find a better way to do it in our belief that we want to cut 20% of the migrant costs. So we have a pilot project with 500 people that we are giving them food cards, so instead of a debit card, instead of having to deliver food, and have people eat food — we were seeing wasting food — they’re now able to get their own food, that is going to be spent $12 a day,” he said at the time.

New York City’s government previously projected that it will spend at least $10.6 billion on migrants by the summer of 2025. New York state has already vowed to contribute about $2 billion in the current budget cycle to the migrant crisis, but Adams told lawmakers that the state’s pledge would only cover one-third of the city’s migrant costs.

Single migrant men, mostly from West Africa, congregate in Tompkins Square Park as volunteers give away food and clothing on January 27, 2024, in the East Village neighborhood of New York City. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

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Roughly 180,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since 2022, overwhelming city resources as officials have struggled to find housing for them. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has bused asylum-seekers to New York and other cities in an effort to assist them in traveling to sanctuary jurisdictions and also highlight the crisis that border communities face on a daily basis.

Former President Donald Trump is making a bold push into two states once written off as blue, opening a combined 19 field offices in Virginia and Minnesota with the 2024 presidential election less than five months away.

The Trump campaign confirmed to Fox News that it is expanding operations in the two states that have voted reliably Democrat in recent presidential elections. The Trump campaign is in the process of securing leases for eight Trump Force 47 field offices in Minnesota and another 11 in Virginia, according to a Trump campaign memo obtained by Fox News on Friday.

Staff have already been hired to manage each state, and the campaign is currently working to build out teams to work each field office in favor of the former president.

TRUMP, BIDEN AIM TO USE DUELING RALLIES IN THESE STATES POST-DEBATE TO PUT EACH OTHER ON DEFENSE

Former President Donald Trump walks on stage to deliver the keynote address at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference at the Washington Hilton on June 22, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

In its memo, the campaign noted that “collateral materials will land in early July in both states, and we’ve already begun to generate Trump Force 47 Captain recruits to get them into training.”

The Trump campaign, which views both Minnesota and Virginia as competitive in the upcoming election, aims to flip both states as it pushes to expand the 2024 electoral map.

At a closed-door Republican National Committee retreat for top-dollar donors earlier this spring 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.

It’s been two decades since a Republican carried Virginia in the race for the White House – the last time being when then-President George W. Bush won the Commonwealth in his 2004 re-election victory.

But recent polling indicates a close contest in Virginia.

TRUMP WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE OF BIDEN IN COMPETITIVE BLUE-LEANING STATE: POLL

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a “Get Out the Vote” rally in Richmond, Virginia, on March 2, 2024. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

A Fox News poll conducted June 1 to 4 indicates the Democratic president and his Republican predecessor in the White House each with 48% support in a head-to-head match.

A Republican hasn’t carried Minnesota in a presidential election since President Richard Nixon’s 1972 landslide re-election, over a half-century ago. It was the only state President Reagan lost in his 1984 re-election landslide.

But a recent poll in Minnesota showed a competitive race between Biden and Trump in their 2024 election rematch. The president stands at 45% support among likely voters in Minnesota, with Trump at 41% in a poll conducted June 3 to 5 for the Star Tribune, MPR News and KARE 11.

Trump was narrowly edged in Minnesota in the 2016 election by 1.5 points by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. But four years later, Biden carried the state by seven points as he defeated Trump and won the White House.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at the annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner hosted by the Minnesota Republican Party on May 17, 2024, in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“We’re going to win this state,” Trump predicted last month in a speech as he headlined the state GOP’s annual Lincoln Reagan fundraising dinner in St. Paul, Minnesota’s capital city.

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The poll pointed to a significant enthusiasm gap, with 63% of Trump supporters saying they were “very enthusiastic” about casting a ballot for their candidate, compared to 31% of voters backing the president.

Former President Trump fired up a major gathering of conservative and faith voters on Saturday, just days ahead of what’s expected to be an epic head-to-head battle with President Biden in the first presidential debate of 2024.

A diverse crowd of more than a thousand attendees of the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority conference piled into the Washington Hilton’s ballroom to hear the former president, who spared no time in mentioning the pending clash.

“Nobody’s going to be watching the debate on Thursday night, right?” Trump said, prompting laughs from the crowd.

INSIDERS REVEAL HOW BIDEN, TRUMP ARE PREPPING FOR THE 1ST 2024 PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

He spent part of his opening remarks calling for Christians to get out and vote in November. “Christians don’t vote that much. You don’t have to vote in four years, but you have to vote this time,” he joked.

Trump spoke on a number of issues important to voters of faith, including late-term abortion and his administration’s movement of the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. 

“Never again will the federal government be used to target Americans of faith,” Trump said, referencing crackdowns on gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also lamented religion “becoming less and less important” across the country, citing its decline as a reason the country is facing crime and other problems.

KEY DEM SENATE CANDIDATE WHO ACCUSED OPPONENT OF ELECTION DENIALISM HAS HISTORY OF QUESTIONING RESULTS

Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, addresses the 2024 Road to Majority Conference in Washington, DC, on June 22, 2024. (Chris KLEPONIS/AFP)

The Road to Majority Conference is hosted annually by F&F, a major Christian grassroots organization with more than 3 million members across the U.S. The conference is known as the largest public policy gathering of conservative Christian activists in the U.S., and will focus on policy issues that matter most to voters of faith ahead of the 2024 election.

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin spoke just ahead of Trump, issuing a call to action to get the former president back into the White House, as well as strengthened Republican majorities in Congress.

The two appeared together for the first time ever earlier this month — not long after a poll showed Trump and Biden tied in the blue-leaning state — fanning the rumors already circulating that Youngkin is being considered as a potential vice presidential running mate.

Other prominent speakers at the conference were South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party in 2022, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty.

BIDEN MAKES MAJOR GAINS WITH CRUCIAL VOTING GROUP AHEAD OF 1ST DEBATE WITH TRUMP: POLL

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks during the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference at the Washington Hilton on June 22, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Noem, Carson and Gabbard have also all been mentioned as potential running mates for Trump. The event marks the latest instance where a number of those reportedly in the running for the role could be competing on stage for Trump’s approval ahead of the Republican National Convention this summer.

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Trump will meet Biden on an Atlanta stage this Thursday in a debate hosted by CNN, the first meeting between the two rivals since their final debate ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

The two are only expected to meet on the debate stage one other time ahead of the November general election, when ABC News hosts its debate in September.

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