NationalWatch

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Friday called for two illegal immigrants charged with killing a 12-year-old Houston girl to be sentenced to death if they are convicted for the slaying. 

Cruz also blamed President Biden’s border policies for leading to the death of Jocelyn Nungaray, who was found Monday strangled to death in a creek. 

Johan Jose Martinez Rangel, 22, and Franklin Pena, 26, both from Venezuela, are each charged with capital murder.

RACHEL MORIN MURDER: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT FROM EL SALVADOR CHARGED WITH RAPE, KILLING OF MARYLAND MOM OF 5

Sen. Ted Cruz says that Johan Jose Martinez Rangel, left, and Franklin Pena should be sentenced to death if they’re convicted of killing a 12-year-old Houston girl. (Harris County jail | AP)

“This is horrifying. If guilty, both of these men should receive the death penalty for this horrible crime,” Cruz wrote on X. “These men are illegal aliens and Jocelyn Nungaray would still be alive and with her family if not for Joe Biden’s open border policies. The Biden administration is directly responsible. My heart goes out to Jocelyn’s family.”

The pair were seen with Nungaray on Sunday night before she was killed near a bridge, police said Thursday. Investigators tracked their movements through surveillance footage. 

“In this case the defendant lured a 12-year-old under a bridge, where he and his co-defendant remained with her for over 2 hours, took her pants off, tied her up, and killed her, then threw her body into the bayou,” Harris County Assistant District Attorney Michael Abner wrote.

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

Jocelyn Nungaray, 12, was found strangled to death in a Houston creek this week. (Fox Houston courtesy of the Nungaray family)

Both suspects entered the United States illegally through Texas, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said. 

“On March 14, Martinez was apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol near El Paso, Texas. That same day he was released on an order of recognizance with a notice to appear,” an ICE spokesperson said. “Pena was apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol on May 28 near El Paso. He was also released on an order of recognizance with a notice to appear the same day he was apprehended.” 

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security stated to Fox News Digital: “Our hearts go out to Jocelyn Nungaray’s family. The Department cannot publicly comment on an ongoing criminal investigations. That said, anyone who commits a horrific and senseless crime, like the one these individuals are accused of, should be prosecuted to the fullest extent under the law.”

On Friday, Cruz urged Biden to restore the Remain in Mexico policy, a Trump-era directive that required migrants applying for asylum to stay in Mexico while their cases play out in U.S. courts. 

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“He must reinstate Remain in Mexico and end catch-and-release immediately, or we will lose more innocent life,” Cruz wrote. “There is no time for half measures – we need to look at what works, and do it now.”

The slaying of Nungaray came amid a week of kidnappings, murders and rapes blamed on illegal immigrants across the country. 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report. 

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…

-White House announces new clean energy subsidies

-Democrats not ‘enthusiastic’ about Biden

-Chicago hides crime woes when Democrat VIPs come to town

8-1 Sweep

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a federal law that bans guns for those subject to domestic violence restraining orders (DVROs) in the first major test of the Second Amendment at the high court this term.

In an 8-1 opinion authored by Chief Justice Roberts, the court’s majority said, “[W]e conclude only this: An individual found by a court to pose a credible threat to the physical safety of another may be temporarily disarmed consistent with the Second Amendment.” Justice Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenter.

Both liberal and conservative justices agreed with the Biden administration that there was a history and tradition of keeping firearms from dangerous persons, despite the lack of any specific ban that may have been in place when the Constitution was enacted in the 1790s.

The Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

White House

SEAFOOD TOWERS: Dem staffer who praised Biden for hooking taxpayers with his student debt blasted for spending habits …Read more

‘RAINBOW LIPSTICK’ ON A PIG: Log Cabin leader blasts Biden for assuming LGBT vote in the bag for Dems …Read more

‘LYNCH MOBS’: Biden admin official who bashed the police as racist, called to defund ICE, earns big promotion …Read more

RULES ‘GREEN LIT’: WH announces new boost to clean energy subsidies …Read more

Capitol Hill

ISRAEL WAR: Senate Dems express uncertainty over attending Netanyahu speech to Congress …Read more

‘GOING TO OWN IT’: Embattled Bowman sorry for calling Oct. 7 rapes ‘propaganda’ …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

RALLYING CRY: Trump spotlighting ‘angel families’ of those killed by illegal immigrants …Read more

‘POOR POLLING’: Democrats, commentators dismiss Trump’s polling gains among Black voters …Read more

‘A DISCONNECT’: Democrats ‘not enthusiastic’ about Biden, warn party strategists …Read more

MIND BOGGLING DONATIONS: Bloomberg shells out millions to boost Biden while billionaire banking heir dishes out millions to back Trump …Read more

CASH DASH: Biden, Trump campaigns tout huge fundraising hauls …Read more

‘MUCH CLOSER’: Burgum touts his family’s relationship with Trump, fueling VP speculation …Read more

‘BAR IS SO LOW’: Biden’s secret weapon in previous national debates may again be a factor during showdown with Trump …Read more

‘MAYBE SOMEDAY’: Trump mocks RFK Jr for not making debate stage …Read more

Former President Trump and RFK Jr. (Eduardo Munoz/Andrew Lichtenstein)

Trials and Tribulation 

‘UNLAWFUL APPOINTMENT’: Trump classified docs judge to weigh alleged ‘unlawful’ appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith …Read more

‘FIGHT BACK’: AG to sue New York over ‘unconstitutional lawfare’ against Trump …Read more

HEARINGS BEGIN: Hearings in Trump classified documents case begin in Florida …Read more

‘HAIL MARY’: Georgia DA desperate to prevent discovery of her ‘misconduct’: Trump lawyers …Read more

Across America

‘TEMPORARILY DISARMED’: Supreme Court rules on key Second Amendment law …Read more

FOX NEWS POLL: Americans weigh in on new border restrictions …Read more

MATTER OF FAITH?: Louisiana lawmaker gets into fiery debate with CNN anchor over Ten Commandments law …Read more

BACK BEHIND BARS: ICE arrests illegal immigrant previously convicted of child rape, multiple DUIs …Read more

‘BRAZEN’: Rachel Morin’s accused killer was hiding in plain sight: prosecutors …Read more

‘WINDOW DRESSING’: Chicago to hide crime woes when Dem VIPs come to town …Read more

BLOOD MONEY: Deadly drug cartel leaders hit with financial sanctions …Read more

AIR DEFENSE: US to redirect air defense missiles to Ukraine instead of the countries that ordered them …Read more

BOOTLEGGING: Illegally brewed liquor kills at least 34 with dozens hospitalized in southern India …Read more

RUSSIAN INJUSTICE: American ballerina accused of spying stands trial in Moscow for $51 donation to Ukraine …Read more

THE TAXMAN COMETH: Democrats gleeful as California high court kills effort to limit taxes …Read more

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Former President Trump’s first day in court for a hearing to determine the lawfulness of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s appointment in the classified document investigation concluded Friday without a decision being made.

Friday’s hearing inside a courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida, ended around 2:30 p.m. after the court heard arguments from the defense and prosecution as well as constitutional lawyers supporting either side’s analysis.

Prior to concluding for the day, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon heard an argument from a lawyer backing up the Trump defense team’s claims.

Josh Blackman of Landmark Legal Foundation argued that Smith did not wield the proper authority to exercise the powers he had been given.

TRUMP CLASSIFIED DOCS JUDGE TO WEIGH ALLEGED ‘UNLAWFUL’ APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH

Donald Trump and Jack Smith (Getty Images)

The arguments were centered on whether the law authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel, such as Smith. The discussions during the hearing were policy-heavy, as each side sought to prove what is truly meant by the law and what authority is ultimately bestowed on Garland and Smith.

Matthew Seligman, a constitutional lawyer and scholar, argued on behalf of the DOJ during the hearing, pointing to one specific word in a statute that backs Garland’s appointment of Smith in the classified documents case.

The word “appoint” is used in section 533, he pointed out to Cannon. This is significant, he explained, as ordinary employees are not installed via appointment. The word is used in the context of government officials, who are put in place by appointment.

According to Seligman, who is part of a group of constitutional lawyers called Defenders of Democracy, the statute is abundantly clear in granting the attorney general the authority to appoint such officials, or special counsels, to prosecute crimes in the U.S.

DEM STAFFER BLASTED FOR SPENDING HABITS AFTER GOING VIRAL FOR THANKING BIDEN FOR ERASING $8K STUDENT DEBT

Aileen Cannon, the Florida judge overseeing former President Trump’s case (Reuters)

Trump’s lawyers argued that because Smith was unlawfully appointed and not confirmed by Congress, the case should be thrown out.

Defense attorney Emil Bove used the phrase “shadow government” while arguing against the validity of Smith’s appointment.

Bove mentioned the term while describing a situation in which inferior officers, unconfirmed by the Senate, are put in power. “These are the risks we are running,” he said.

DOJ prosecutor James Pearce argued for Smith’s team and opened by telling Cannon that the Trump team’s legal analysis is, “foreclosed by precedent” and that it could lead to “pernicious consequences.”

Smith’s team maintains that Garland has the statutory authority to appoint a special counsel, pointing to US Code 28 Section 516, which gives the AG the authority to prosecute criminal matters and puts the AG in charge of any litigation on behalf of the United States.

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Jack Smith speaks during a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 1, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Pearce also told Cannon that while Smith’s team is operating independently on a day-to-day basis, DOJ regulations allow the AG to ask for an explanation of any step taken by the special counsel.

Cannon was reportedly very active during the hearing, asking questions of both sides, including asking Bove about the text of Section 533, “What is a special attorney or assistant? What is the difference?”

At the end of the hearing, after hours of arguments on dense and complicated legal issues, Cannon seemed to home in on one issue: whether Garland had any direct role in Trump’s indictment.

Cannon asked Pearce if there had been any oversight by Garland on Smith’s team in relation to the issue that Garland has repeatedly assured Congress that Smith is acting independently and that there has been no coordination with the Biden White House.

Pearce assured the judge that Smith’s team had complied with all the DOJ regulations governing the special counsel.

Cannon is expected to issue a written order in the coming days.

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

The Republican National Committee launched a lawsuit this week seeking to ensure only citizens can vote in Burlington, Vermont, elections.

Residents of Burlington, the Green Mountain State’s largest city, approved the charter change in March 2023 that permits noncitizens to vote in municipal elections.

Vermont Republican Gov. Phil Scott later vetoed state approval of the measure, but was overridden by the legislature.

BIDEN’S BORDER CRISIS WREAKING HAVOC ON K-12 SCHOOLS: TOP GOP LAWMAKER

The RNC said such elections influence Vermont’s education budget, which contradicts the state constitution’s requirement that only citizens can vote on matters affecting the state.

“Americans should decide American elections,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

“Democrats’ persistent efforts to enable noncitizen voting dilute the voices of Americans in Vermont and across the country,” he said.

In comments to Fox News, an RNC spokesperson added that Democrats’ “persistent efforts” to let noncitizens vote is “alarming.”

“Combined with their catastrophic border crisis, noncitizens’ voting prioritizes illegal immigrants over U.S. citizens and jeopardizes our elections,” the spokesperson said.

FLASHBACK: PA REPUBLICANS DRAFT BILL DIVERTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM SECRETIVE BIDEN DHS FLIGHTS TO DELAWARE

Vermont Republican Gov. Phil Scott initially vetoed the city’s charter change, but was overridden. (Philscott.org)

While noncitizen suffrage remains illegal in federal-level elections, Burlington is not alone in permitting such.

In the Burlington suburb of Winooski, 11 people took advantage of the town’s “all-resident” voting policy, according to NPR.

Bordering Washington, D.C., the city of Takoma Park, Maryland, recently celebrated 30 years of being the first municipality in the nation where noncitizens are permitted to vote. 

A 2023 city statement on the matter said 20% of the approximately 350 noncitizens there cast ballots in the 2017 off-year elections.

Takoma Park’s 1992 policy change was notably spearheaded by resident and then-American University law professor Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md. 

It requires identification and proof of residency, according to a city statement.

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Washington, D.C., itself also allows noncitizen voting in municipal races.

In February, a New York State appeals court overturned New York City’s noncitizen suffrage provisions, while several states in the heartland banned the practice in the early 1900s.

In 2020, Florida and Alabama voters overwhelmingly approved state constitutional amendments by-referendum, declaring only citizens can vote within those states.

Politically, Burlington is otherwise best known as the city where high-profile Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., started his political career. The self-described “democratic socialist” served as the city’s mayor from 1981 to 1989.

Fox News Digital reached out to the city of Burlington for comment. A person who answered the phone at city hall directed Fox News Digital to a communications official who did not respond.

Thanks to a tidal wave of fundraising following his conviction in the first criminal trial of a former or current president, Donald Trump has all but erased President Biden’s once massive fundraising advantage in their 2024 election rematch.

In May, for a second straight month, the former president and the Republican National Committee significantly outraised Biden and the Democratic National Committee. And the president’s formidable cash-on-hand advantage over Trump has seemingly evaporated.

The Biden campaign’s months-long lead in the cash dash allowed his team to drown out Trump on the airwaves and to build an impressive ground game operation in comparison to the Trump campaign’s much more frugal foundations.

But Trump’s fundraising boost since clinching the GOP nomination in early March, and his surge since being convicted of 34 felony counts in his New York City trial, now allow him to match Biden in the ad wars and to potentially build a sizable ground operation.

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

Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower, Thursday, May 30, 2024, after being found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)

While Biden’s campaign has spent upwards of $65 million to carpet the airwaves with ads in support of president’s re-election, according to AdImpact, a leading national ad tracking firm, the Trump campaign has yet to launch a general election ad buy.

But Biden’s ad wars advantage may soon be challenged. Make America Great Again (MAGA) Inc., a top super PAC supporting the former president, announced a $100 million ad blitz this summer. The group’s announcement came immediately after it landed a staggering $50 million contribution from conservative banking heir Timothy Mellon.

When it comes to the ground game battle, the Biden campaign on Thursday announced that it had reached 200 campaign offices and 1,000 staffers in the key battleground states that will decide the 2024 election rematch.

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

“With just over four months until the election, Donald Trump couldn’t match our battleground infrastructure if he tried,” Biden campaign battleground states director Dan Kanninen said in a statement. 

Kanninen argued that “while Trump’s team is desperately trying to spin their lack of infrastructure as ‘strategic,’ the bottom line is that Donald Trump cannot buy back the time he has lost — and invisible campaigns don’t win.”

President Biden’s re-election campaign scolded MSNBC and CNN on Wednesday for ignoring a “Black Voters for Biden-Harris” rally in Philadelphia. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller pushed back, as he pointed to polls in the key battleground states that indicate Trump with a slight edge.

“What Biden could use is 1,000 more votes in states like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, because he’s losing to President Trump in all of them!” Miller claimed.

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Trump’s campaign says that it and the RNC have offices in the key swing states, but declines to give specific numbers. The campaign reiterates that its paid staff and volunteer operation are “expanding daily.”

But Trump’s campaign for a couple of months has emphasized that it is building a “leaner” operation than it had in 2020 when the then-White House incumbent ran for re-election. It is planning an operation with fewer offices and staff, and to a degree outsourcing, as it relies on allied groups to beef up its ground game.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump walks to the podium at a campaign event Tuesday, June 18, 2024, in Racine, Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps) (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

“There will definitely need to be some catching up to do for Trump to try to match the infrastructure that Biden has built,” Greg Moore, a regional director for the conservative advocacy powerhouse Americans For Prosperity, told Fox News.

But Moore, a longtime veteran of the group’s formidable grassroots outreach and ground game efforts, said “there’s still a fantastic opportunity for the Trump team to be able to start to grow that infrastructure and focus on building out a true, authentic, grassroots strategy.”

Pointing to the Trump campaign, Moore argued that “there’s no question there’s a ton of energy in the supporters. The level of enthusiasm among Trump’s supporters is higher than the level of enthusiasm among Biden’s supporters, which means while the staff gain might lean toward Biden, actually recruiting authentic volunteers is an area where Trump should have an advantage.”

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

Senate Democrats appear to be hesitating on whether they will attend remarks from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next month to a joint session of Congress. 

“I haven’t made up my mind yet,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. 

Asked whether he had specific reservations, he reiterated, “I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

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

Several Senate Democrats said they hadn’t decided whether to attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks to Congress next month. (Getty Images)

Last month, bipartisan congressional leaders signed an invitation to Netanyahu to speak to lawmakers as Israel continues to fight terrorist group Hamas in war-torn Gaza. In the letter, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., wrote, “To build on our enduring relationship and to highlight America’s solidarity with Israel, we invite you to share the Israeli government’s vision for defending democracy, combatting terror, and establishing a just and lasting peace in the region.”

While Schumer has been critical of Netanyahu specifically, he signed onto the invitation, justifying his choice to do so by explaining, “America’s relationship with Israel is ironclad and transcends one person or prime minister.”

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

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., signed onto the Netanyahu invitation. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

“We’ll have to see what it conflicts with,” Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said of his potential attendance at the address, which is slated for July 24. 

Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., told Fox News Digital, “I haven’t decided.” 

The same sentiment was echoed by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, who said he also had yet to determine whether he will attend the Israeli prime minister’s address. 

MIKE PENCE’S GROUP URGES GOP TO OPPOSE MEASURE INCLUDING WOMEN IN FUTURE DRAFT

Schatz said he hasn’t made a decision yet.  (Photo by Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who caucuses with Democrats in the upper chamber, claimed, “I haven’t even thought of it,” declining to answer whether he had reservations about going to the address by Netanyahu. 

Vocal progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who are also members of the Democratic caucus, have each already revealed that they won’t be going to the address. Sanders, a prominent critic of Israel’s actions in the war, released a statement after the invitation was extended, saying, “It is a very sad day for our country that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been invited – by leaders from both parties – to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress.”

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

Warren said she won’t go to Netanyahu’s address.  (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Warren reportedly shared with the Hill her plan not to attend, saying, “Benjamin Netanyahu has created a humanitarian disaster.”

While there is a group of rank-and-file Democrats in the Senate who have yet to make a decision, there were also several who confirmed, without hesitation, that they would be at Netanyahu’s remarks next month. 

“Yes,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., when asked whether she would attend. 

VA DEM TIM KAINE WARNS AGAINST TAKING ELECTION FOR GRANTED AS TRUMP EYES BLUE STATE

Rosen is running for re-election in Nevada.  (Madeline Carter/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., was similarly quick to confirm her planned attendance. The vulnerable incumbent Democrat is currently up for re-election in the swing state of Nevada. Notably, Rosen is only the third Jewish woman to serve as senator in U.S. history. She is also co-chair of the Bipartisan Task Force For Combating Antisemitism. 

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Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Bob Casey, D-Penn., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who face their own competitive elections in November, are also planning to attend the Netanyahu remarks. 

Schumer’s office did not provide comment to Fox News Digital when asked for his response to potential Democratic absences. 

Amid the circulation of videos on social media in recent weeks which appear to show President Biden’s mental acuity dwindling and a recent Wall Street Journal report adding fuel to the speculation, low expectations for his performance ahead of the debate next week against former President Trump could buck his chance of victory.

However, “low expectations” will be used to Biden’s advantage, according to one expert.

“I’d be wary of assuming that Biden’s going to have a bad performance, or of talking down his potential performance because he has surpassed expectations at the 2020 debate, at the State of the Union address, and at the press conference where they were talking about his mental acuity,” presidential historian and author Tevi Troy told Fox News Digital.

“That doesn’t mean he’s always all there, and I fully recognize that he is not the person he was in 2012 when he debated very effectively against Paul Ryan,” added Troy, who served as a senior HHS official in the President George W. Bush administration. “But when you lower the expectations of your opponent’s performance, it’s easy for the opponent to exceed those expectations strategically. It’s something to worry about.”

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

President Biden, left, and former President Trump. (Win McNamee/Getty Images | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Thursday’s presidential debate will be the first between the GOP and Democratic frontrunners, since neither Trump nor Biden participated in party primary debates – a first in several decades. 

Troy, also a senior researcher at the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank, believes the real problem for Biden next week “is it’s easy to run against Trump when Trump’s in office, but now Biden’s in office and people are still unhappy with one situation.”

“They’re unhappy with the illegal immigration, they’re unhappy with inflation, and they’re unhappy with the sense that Biden doesn’t have it and doesn’t know what’s going on or isn’t on top of his game. So, the ‘memory campaign’ is a bit of a hard thing to pull off in this circumstance,” he said.

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

Former President Trump arrives to Trump Tower on Thursday, May 30, 2024 after being found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)

Meanwhile, a GOP strategist told Fox News Digital “the bar is so low” for Biden, “so him making it through a sentence is seen as a success in the eyes of the Democrat party.”

“After the State of the Union, everyone was saying it was a great success for him, simply because he made it through with a few notable stumbles. He had a couple, but I think voters can’t forget, and they have to truly understand, like, what Joe Biden is actually saying. His union address was one of the most divisive speeches I’ve seen,” the source said.

“What voters really need to focus on are his policy positions,” the source continued. “The platform that he ran on in 2020 that he’s going to unify the country. And I think a lot of voters can get behind that. But we have seen the exact opposite during his entire time as president. And I think Donald Trump can make a really good case about that. And on top of that, just being able to stumble him up a couple times.”

BIDEN’S ‘PERPETUAL STATE OF CONFUSION’ ON DISPLAY IN NORMANDY AMID RISING COGNITIVE QUESTIONS

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

Meanwhile, the White House is working to discredit videos of the president online, terming them “cheap fakes,” which are edited out of context, slowed or sped up.

“The discredited right-wing critics of President Biden who spread other debunked lies, including that the 2020 election was stolen, are clearly threatened by the wide range of nonpartisan fact-checkers that have pulled back the curtain on the cheap fake smears they’re forced to rely on – since the last thing they want to discuss is Joe Biden’s agenda to cut taxes for working families and keep bringing violent crime to historic lows,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital this week.

The president’s mental acuity has become the center of political discourse this month after a bombshell Washington Journal report, which the White House dismissed, revealed that many lawmakers on Capitol Hill had questions about Biden’s mental acuity after many said his aging was apparent in private meetings.

FOX NEWS POLL: TRUMP HITS 51% SUPPORT IN ARIZONA, UP FROM 49% IN MARCH

As of Thursday, President Biden is the frontrunner in a hypothetical matchup against former President Trump for the first time since October, as positive views of the economy inch up — hitting their highest level thus far in the Biden presidency, according to a new Fox News national survey.

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Since May, there has been a 3-point change in the presidential race. Trump was ahead by one point last month, while Biden is up by two points today: 50%-48%. That’s well within the margin of error. Biden’s current 50% support is his best this election cycle; he hasn’t been ahead of Trump since October 2023 and that was by just 1 point (49%-48%).

Fox News Digital’s Dana Blanton contributed to this report. 

Former President Trump released a video Thursday mocking independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for not meeting the requirements to appear at the first presidential debate.

The short video, recorded aboard Trump’s private jet, addressed reports that Kennedy had insufficient support in national polls and did not appear on enough state ballots to earn a spot at CNN’s upcoming debate.

“I know RFK Jr. wants to try to get onto the stage on Thursday, and I’d love to have him frankly, because I don’t think he’s much of a debater, and he’s got some very liberal, radical left ideas,” Trump said in the video. “But you have to get certain numbers, that was the criteria, and he’s way below those numbers. He’s not coming close.”

RFK JR. FAILS TO MEET REQUIREMENTS FOR FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, CNN SAYS

Former President Trump speaks before members of the Club 47 group at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

“So I hope to see him up there someday, but it looks to me like he’s not going to qualify on many fronts,” Trump continued. “They say he hurts Biden more than he hurts me, and I don’t know if that’s true or not. They say he hurts Biden because he’s a serious left person. If he is, that’s good — I don’t really care.”

In order to qualify for the CNN-hosted debate, candidates are required to receive at least 15% support in four separate national polls. Candidates must also be on the ballot in enough states to make it hypothetically possible to collect the 270 electoral college votes necessary to win the election.

Kennedy — the highest-performing 2024 candidate outside the Republican and Democratic parties — failed to meet the criteria by the Thursday morning deadline, the network said.

DNC KEEPS GOING AFTER RFK JR. SUPER PAC, ALLEGES TRUMP’S LARGEST DONOR PROPPING UP CANDIDACY

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

A CNN spokesperson independently confirmed to Fox News that RFK Jr. did not qualify.

“You have to do better than six or seven points. Maybe someday he’ll be there, but I doubt it,” Trump concluded in his Thursday video.

The independent candidate was only able to produce the necessary 15% support figure in three separate national polls, according to a news release by CNN. The network also reported that Kennedy had not qualified for the ballot in enough states to meet the 270 possible electoral college votes threshold.

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President Biden speaks to the press in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

“Presidents Biden and Trump do not want me on the debate stage and CNN illegally agreed to their demand,” Kennedy said in his own statement on Thursday. “My exclusion by Presidents Biden and Trump from the debate is undemocratic, un-American, and cowardly.”

“Americans want an independent leader who will break apart the two-party duopoly,” he added. “They want a President who will heal the divide, restore the middle class, unwind the war machine, and end the chronic disease epidemic.”

Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis’ “Hail Mary” court filing to halt a court appeal is “an obvious attempt” to prevent discovery of her “misconduct,” according to attorneys for former President Trump.

Last week, Wills argued that the Fulton County Superior Court found there was no sufficient evidence to support their claims that she had a conflict of interest, saying there is “no basis” to appeal Judge Scott McAfee’s March ruling allowing the Atlanta prosecutor to stay on the case.

However, in a legal filing Thursday, Trump attorneys told the Georgia Court of Appeals that “without citation to any applicable authority, the State filed this ‘Hail Mary’ motion to dismiss these meritorious appeals, accusing this Court of ‘improvidently’ granting interlocutory review. There is no proper procedural vehicle for the State to relitigate this Court’s sound decision to hear the merits.” 

“President Trump has filed his response in opposition to the State’s meritless motion to dismiss the interlocutory appeal,” Steve Sadow, lead counsel for Trump said in a statement. “The Georgia Court of Appeals granted us the right to appeal after due and proper consideration. The State’s “Hail Mary” motion is an obvious attempt to stop appellate review of DA Willis’ misconduct.”

GEORGIA PROSECUTOR FANI WILLIS APPEALS AFTER JUDGE DROPS MULTIPLE TRUMP CHARGES

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks to the media after winning the Democratic primary on Tuesday, May 21, 2024 in Buckhead, Georgia. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

“We are optimistic that the Court will deny the motion and proceed to favorably decide the appeal on the merits,” he said.

Trump and several co-defendants alleged earlier this year that Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade were romantically involved prior to his hiring and that she financially benefited from the relationship, allegations they both have denied.

Judge McAfee’s order in March said that Wade had to be removed in order to keep Willis from disqualification in the Trump election interference case in Georgia. McAfee allowed the defense to appeal his ruling, and the appeals court announced last week that it will hear the defense’s case to still have Willis disqualified. 

The appeals court agreed to hear the case on Oct. 4 and paused all other litigation concerning Trump and those defendants until the disqualification matter is settled. 

“The State’s motion to dismiss the interlocutory appeal, which has already been permitted by the Court of Appeals, appears to be a last ditch effort to stop any appellate review of DA Willis’ misconduct,” Sadow said in a statement Wednesday. 

TRUMP’S APPEAL TO DISQUALIFY FANI WILLIS FROM GA CASE GETS OCTOBER HEARING DATE

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis looks on during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 1, 2024 in Atlanta. (Photo by Alex Slitz-Pool/Getty Images)

“The State’s motion deliberately failed to mention that Judge McAfee’s ruling stated an ‘odor of mendacity remains’ from the hearing testimony by the DA and the State’s witnesses. The judge also said there were “reasonable questions” as to whether Willis and former prosecutor Wade testified untruthfully. The State has tried this gambit before with no success,” he said. 

Both Wade and Willis denied they were in a romantic relationship prior to his hiring and insisted that the couple split the costs of their shared travels. Willis said she reimbursed Wade for her share of the trips in cash.

In his March order, McAfee said while Willis’ “reimbursement practice” was “unusual and the lack of any documentary corroboration understandably concerning,” he ultimately decided that the defendants did not present “sufficient evidence” that expenses were not “roughly divided evenly.” 

He also said that “the evidence demonstrated that the financial gain flowing from her relationship with Wade was not a motivating factor on the part of the District Attorney to indict and prosecute this case.”

In February, Judge McAfee held a two-day evidentiary hearing where the defense, led by attorney Ashley Merchant, set out to expose a money trail that would mean Willis has a conflict of interest in the case against Trump and should be disqualified.

FANI WILLIS’ EX-STAFFER TESTIFIES SHE WAS FIRED AFTER BLOWING WHISTLE ON DA’S SPENDING

Former President Trump appears in Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday, May 30, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)

“[T]he Court finds that the record made at the evidentiary hearing established that the District Attorney’s prosecution is encumbered by an appearance of impropriety,” McAfee wrote in his order.

“As the case moves forward, reasonable members of the public could easily be left to wonder whether the financial exchanges have continued resulting in some form of benefit to the District Attorney, or even whether the romantic relationship has resumed.”

“Put differently, an outsider could reasonably think that the District Attorney is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences. As long as Wade remains on the case, this unnecessary perception will persist,” he said.

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Wade resigned from the DA’s office after McAfee’s ruling.

When the defense in March submitted a joint motion for a Certificate of Immediate Review, McAfee said that his Order on the Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss and Disqualify the Fulton County District Attorney issued March 15 “is of such importance to the case that immediate review should be had” and allowed the defendants to ask the Georgia appeals court for an opportunity to appeal, which the court granted last month.  

Former New York mayor, billionaire entrepreneur and media magnate Michael Bloomberg contributed nearly $20 million to help boost President Biden in his 2024 election rematch with former President Trump, sources confirm to Fox News.

Bloomberg, a one-time Republican turned independent turned Democrat, wrote a massive $19 million check to the Future Forward PAC, known as the FF PAC, which is the leading super PAC supporting Biden’s bid for a second term in the White House.

And Bloomberg, who briefly ran unsuccessfully against Biden for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, also gave the maximum donation of $929,600 to the Biden Victory Fund, a fundraising committee that benefits the president’s re-election campaign and various Democratic Party committees.

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

Michael Blomberg speaks at a United Nations Climate Change Conference at The Plaza Hotel, on September 19, 2023 in New York City. (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Bloomberg Philanthropies)

Sources with knowledge of the transfers confirmed them to Fox News on Thursday evening.

“I stood with Joe Biden in 2020, and I am proud to do so again,” Bloomberg said in a statement to the Washington Post, which was the first news organization to report the massive contributions.

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

Bloomberg shelled out a staggering $1 billion of his own money on his 2020 Democratic presidential nomination bid.

After he dropped out of the race, he transferred roughly $18 million to the Democratic Party. And he separately announced the funding of a $100 million independent ad campaign to boost Biden’s White House bid.

President Biden speaks at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 29, 2024. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Bloomberg, who at 82 is a year older than Biden, according to Forbes Magazine, is the 15th wealthiest person in the world, with approximately $106 billion in assets.

As the news of the Bloomberg contributions was going viral, so was word that conservative billionaire donor Timothy Mellon gave a mind-boggling $50 million contribution last month to a leading super PAC supporting Trump’s White House bid.

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According to a federal disclosure filing on Thursday, Mellon made his contribution to Make America Great Again (MAGA) Inc. the day after Trump was convicted of all 34 felony counts in his criminal trial, which is the first involving a former or current president in the nation’s history.

The New York Times was first to report the contribution from Mellon, who’s an heir to the Pittsburgh-based Mellon banking family.

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, walks to the podium at a campaign event Tuesday, June 18, 2024, in Racine, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps) (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

In its fundraising filings, MAGA Inc. disclosed that it brought in over $68 million in fundraising last month, with most of the money coming from Mellon, with another $10 million from the conservative mega donors Dick and Liz Uihlein, founders of the Uihlein shipping and packaging company.

The super PAC announced a few days after the Mellon donation that they were reserving $100 million in ad reservations to run spots this summer in support of Trump.

The latest contribution from Mellon follows a previous $25 million donation earlier this cycle to MAGA Inc. Mellon also contributed roughly the same amount to American Values, the main super PAC supporting Democrat turned independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign.

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

Gay Trump voters are shattering the Democratic Party’s “lie” that the LGBT community only votes blue, the president of the Log Cabin Republicans told Fox News Digital. 

“Donald Trump is providing an opportunity for everybody to have an equal shot on a fair playing field. And that’s what it comes down to at the end of the day. LGBT voters don’t need to be pandered to. We don’t need to be marginalized. We just need to be given the same opportunity for success, and for freedom, and for liberty as everybody else,” Log Cabin Republicans President Charles Moran told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview earlier this week. 

“Donald Trump is the only candidate who’s making that happen,” he continued. “There’s no assumption … of us being in a discounted or a diminished state.”

The Log Cabin Republicans is the nation’s oldest and largest organization of LGBT Republicans, with over 10,000 members across the country, including 80 chapters in 40 states, Moran said. Though the group’s base focuses on centrist and center-right gay voters, Log Cabin Republicans also has strong support from suburban women and youths. 

MELANIA TRUMP SAYS US ‘MUST UNITE’ AHEAD OF MAR-A-LAGO LOG CABIN REPUBLICANS EVENT

President Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk on the south lawn of the White House on December 23, 2020. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Throughout Moran’s interview, he stressed that Trump, in conjunction with former first lady Melania Trump, is spreading a message of unity while vowing to implement policies that benefit all Americans, regardless of skin color, gender or sexual orientation. 

MELANIA TRUMP RETURNS TO CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH PRO-LGBT REPUBLICAN EVENT APPEARANCE: REPORT

Trump has made massive strides in courting the gay community in his previous campaigns, with Moran anticipating again increasing the number of gay voters supporting the GOP this year. In 2016, Trump only received 14% of the gay vote, but he doubled that statistic to 28% in 2020.

Log Cabin Republicans President Charles Moran (Charles Moran)

“This is a year where we can absolutely drive those LGBT numbers up, and I’m going to shoot for as close to 50% as possible. And the really important thing here is that shatters the stereotype that if you’re gay you have to be a Democrat. We know that not to be true as much, as the left wing and mainstream media want to keep pushing that lie. It’s just not true. Nearly a third of the LGBT voters in the last election voted for Republicans, both for either President Trump or for congressional Republicans,” he said. 

FLASHBACK: RNC ANNOUNCES ‘PRIDE COALITION,’ PARTNERSHIP WITH LOG CABIN REPUBLICANS AHEAD OF MIDTERMS

The Trump campaign told Fox News Digital that Trump’s commitment to curbing inflation and addressing spiraling crime rates if re-elected will benefit all Americans. 

“By bringing down inflation and the skyrocketing cost of living, cutting taxes, and restoring law and order in our communities, President Trump’s second term agenda will create a safer and more prosperous America for ALL Americans, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or creed!” Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, said. 

American flags and a pride flag hang from the White House before a Pride Month celebration on the South Lawn, June 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Moran noted that amid efforts to earn a greater share of gay votes, members of the LGBTQ community have become disenchanted with the Democratic Party’s “virtue signaling” and “pandering.”

“I think one of the biggest things that we’ve seen in 2024 is that the era of virtue signaling and pandering is coming to a very quick halt. You saw corporations during Pride Month really cut back and curtail on some of the over-the-top virtue signaling that had been going on because they got called out on it, mocked and shamed for that inauthenticity back in 2023. I don’t think any of those corporate CEOs wanted to go back into that in 2024. So I’m really in a strong position at this point to let Republicans know: Just be authentic with it, because the Biden administration has been taking an ever-increasing role of the pandering and virtue signaling,” Moran said. 

MELANIA FULLY BEHIND TRUMP’S 2024 CAMPAIGN, SAYS IT WOULD BE A ‘PRIVILEGE’ TO SERVE AS FIRST LADY AGAIN

President Biden (AP/Evan Vucci)

He pointed to the White House’s pride month event last year, when a trans activist went topless on the South Lawn, as well as the White House flying a progress flag, which he called the “bastardized version of the traditional rainbow flag,” while flanked by American flags last year. The White House quickly condemned the trans activist for the nudity stunt, as footage of the scene from the South Lawn went viral. 

“It’s turned into a mockery,” he said of recent “pandering” at the White House. 

“It is worse now under Joe Biden internationally to be gay. The lives of our brothers and sisters in the Middle East and in other parts of the world, in Africa and the Caribbean and some places in Southeast Asia, it is now worse and more dangerous than it was under Donald J. Trump.”

When asked if Biden or Trump has better policies that benefit the gay community, Moran did not hesitate when answering, “Trump.” He cited that Trump is the “first president ever elected in history that supported LGBT marriage, marriage equality on day one,” that the 45th president has made it easier to be a gay voter in the Republican Party, that gay people across the world were at less risk of harm and discrimination under the Trump administration due to his foreign policies, and that the 45th president leaves pandering at the door in favor of authentic messaging.

GAY GOP HOUSE CANDIDATE INSISTS ‘NEW REPUBLICAN PARTY’ MORE ACCEPTING, WORKING TO UNITE AMERICANS

“LGBT voters have gotten to the point now, where they are mature enough and they’re sophisticated enough to say, like, ‘hey, it’s not so much: do you support marriage equality, or some of these other LGBT rights issues?’ It’s a ‘are you … creating a condition as an elected official for me to be able to survive, to thrive, to raise my family, to run my business?’ And every one of the answers that keeps coming back is ‘no’ from these Democrats,” he said. 

Former President Trump speaks during a campaign event at Wildwood Beach in New Jersey, on Saturday, May 11, 2024. ( Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“At some point, you can’t just keep slapping the rainbow lipstick on a pig here. And that’s exactly what the Democrats are trying to do with the pandering and the virtue signaling.” 

Moran conveyed that Biden has even worsened gay rights for people on the world stage with weak foreign policies. 

“Under the Biden administration, it’s actually gotten worse because of that lack of strong foreign policy presence, and because of the lack of America being willing to stand up for our morals and values on an international stage. It’s actually gotten worse. What they’ve done to empower Iran, the releasing of the $10 billion and the consideration of doing it again, absolutely has an impact in our world. Where they’re executing gays and lesbians regularly for being who they are,” he said. 

BIDEN, HARRIS ANNOUNCE NEW CAMPAIGN PUSH FOR LGBTQ SUPPORT, CALL MEMBERS ‘A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH’

“It is worse now under Joe Biden internationally to be gay. The lives of our brothers and sisters in the Middle East and in other parts of the world, in Africa and the Caribbean and some places in Southeast Asia, it is now worse and more dangerous than it was under Donald J. Trump,” he continued. 

Biden-Harris 2024 spokesperson Kevin Munoz told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that “LGBTQ+ Americans couldn’t have more at stake this election: Donald Trump and his extremist allies are running to gut LGBTQ+ rights and erase history as their top priorities.”

“LGBTQ+ Americans deserve leaders who will fight for every American’s freedom and dignity. That’s what President Biden and Vice President Harris have done throughout their time in office, and what they will do if reelected, including pressing Congress to pass the Equality Act. There has never been a more critical time to protect the rights of all Americans, no matter who you love or how you identify, and [President Biden is running] to not just safeguard, but strengthen the rights and voice of every single American,” Munoz continued. 

Melania Trump (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

News broke this week that former first lady Melania Trump will join the Log Cabin Republicans for her second campaign fundraiser with the group this summer and her fourth fundraiser with them overall. Moran said that Melania Trump is “an amazing ally” and communicator who spreads the message of “unity.” 

“She really knows that inclusion does win and that unity is one of the most important things that we have going for us in this country. And that’s kind of the tone that she’s set with a lot of the coalitions this year, in terms of bringing Americans together. And we know that under Joe Biden, it doesn’t matter if you’re gay or you’re straight, if you’re black or you’re white, or you’re Asian, if you’re Christian, if you’re Jewish or you’re Muslim, life is worse for you now under Joe Biden and his failed leadership than it was under Donald Trump. And that’s something that we can all rally around,” he argued. 

Supporters of former President Trump gather for a weekend Trump rally on the Jersey Shore beachfront on May 11, 2024, in Wildwood, New Jersey. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

Melania Trump will join the Log Cabin Republicans in Manhattan on July 8, with donations benefiting the group’s “Road to Victory” program to boost voter turnout for the GOP. 

Moran reflected on President Reagan’s mantra that “80% my friend is not 20% my enemy,” which he said is embraced by the Log Cabin Republicans as they look to broaden the GOP vote. 

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“You don’t have to agree with us on all of our public policy points, but if you agree that we have a place in the party, or that America is a place where LGBT people can and should have the same rights and responsibilities as every other person, we can work with you on that. And that’s what we’re going to do to have a lasting, durable majority in the Republican Party.”

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

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has not qualified for the first debate of the election cycle, CNN said Thursday.

In order to qualify for the CNN-hosted debate, candidates are required to receive at least 15% support in four separate national polls. Candidates must also be on the ballot in enough states to make it hypothetically possible to collect the 270 electoral college votes necessary to win the election.

Kennedy — the highest-performing 2024 candidate outside the Republican and Democratic parties — failed to meet the criteria by the Thursday morning deadline, the network said. A CNN spokesperson independently confirmed to Fox News that RFK Jr. did not qualify.

CNN FINALIZES RULES FOR FIRST BIDEN VS. TRUMP DEBATE, RFK JR. COULD STILL QUALIFY

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The independent candidate was only able to produce the necessary 15% support figure in three separate national polls, according to a news release by CNN. 

The network also reported that Kennedy hadn’t qualified for the ballot in enough states to meet the 270 possible electoral college votes threshold.

“Presidents Biden and Trump do not want me on the debate stage and CNN illegally agreed to their demand,” Kennedy said in a statement on Thursday. “My exclusion by Presidents Biden and Trump from the debate is undemocratic, un-American, and cowardly.”

DNC KEEPS GOING AFTER RFK JR. SUPER PAC, ALLEGES TRUMP’S LARGEST DONOR PROPPING UP CANDIDACY

Joe Biden and Donald Trump debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, during the 2020 election cycle. (Kevin Dietsch/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Americans want an independent leader who will break apart the two-party duopoly,” he added. “They want a President who will heal the divide, restore the middle class, unwind the war machine, and end the chronic disease epidemic.”

Kennedy has sharply criticized CNN’s standards for the debate, claiming the requirements for entry were arbitrarily enforced against him in order to maintain a one-on-one debate format.

The Trump campaign said it would have been fine with Kennedy on the stage.

“President Trump said repeatedly he had no problem debating RFK Jr. and he believes any candidate who qualifies for the ballot should be allowed to make their case to America’s voters,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said. “It’s Joe Biden and the Democrats who are using financial and legal resources to prevent RFK’s access to the ballot because they know RFK Jr. is a radical leftist who pulls more votes from Biden than President Trump.”

The 90-minute debate, scheduled to take place on June 27 in Atlanta, will be hosted by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. It will be the first in-person face off between Biden and Trump since they stood alongside one another on debate stages during the 2020 cycle.

CNN said there will be two commercial breaks during the debate, and candidates will not be allowed to consult with other members of their campaign during that time.

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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks during a voter rally at The Hangar at Stanley Marketplace in Aurora, Colorado. (Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

The network also noted that candidates’ podiums and positions will be determined by a coin flip, their mics will be muted outside of speaking time, and they will only be provided with a pen, a notepad and a bottle of water.

Candidates will not be allowed to bring props or prepared notes.

Fox News’ Kyle Morris contributed to this report.

President Biden and former President Trump appear to be taking quite different approaches in prepping for the first presidential debate of 2024.

The debate, which came about after a war of words between the two over a potential on-stage clash last month, is scheduled to be held June 27 in Atlanta, much earlier than in any previous election cycle.

Trump has so far avoided any mock debates with his team and is focusing heavily on meeting with close allies and hitting the campaign trail. Meanwhile, Biden has opted to hunker down in the days leading up to what is expected to be a historic clash by prepping with his advisers at Camp David.

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

President Biden, left, and former President Trump. (Getty Images)

Trump has been gathering with Republican allies for private meetings in recent weeks as he looks ahead to the debate, including a handful of those in contention to be his vice presidential running mate, senators and other policy experts, sources tell Fox News Digital. His campaign has characterized the meetings as “policy discussions.”

One of the vice presidential nominee contenders, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, huddled with Trump and members of his staff earlier this month at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida. Sources familiar with the meeting confirmed the encounter and that the session centered around debate messaging on the economy and how to target Biden over inflation.

Trump also took part in another policy discussion last week during his one-day trip to the nation’s capital, where he met behind closed doors with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, another potential running mate, as well as first-term Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri. 

Trump co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, veterans in the political world, also sat in on the session, which included discussions on how to deal with likely debate questions on the Jan. 6, 2021, protests at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the former president aiming to disrupt congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory.

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

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks to members of the media outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York City on May 13. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump has also held policy discussions with senior advisers Kellyanne Conway and Stephen Miller, and with former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell. To date though, none of the sessions have included any mock debates, which is a switch from 2020 when former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie role-played Biden to prepare Trump for the general election debates.

“President Trump takes on numerous tough interviews every single week and delivers lengthy rally speeches while standing, demonstrating elite stamina. He does not need to be programmed by staff or shot up with chemicals like Joe Biden does,” senior adviser Jason Miller told Fox News Digital concerning why Trump has yet to do any traditional mock debates.

Trump has demanded that both candidates be drug tested before the debate.

Trump will hold a rally in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Saturday, while Biden will undergo in-depth preparations at Camp David over the weekend and into next week.

Biden’s former chief of staff, Ron Klain, is leading the president’s debate prep, alongside other senior campaign aides and longtime advisers, a campaign official told Fox News Digital.

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

Former White House chief of staff Ron Klain. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The official said his sessions will center on ways to hold Trump “accountable for his extreme record and the dangerous things he’s been saying on the campaign trail,” including “ripping away reproductive rights, promoting political violence, undermining our democratic institutions, and doing the bidding of his billionaire donors to fund tax giveaways to the ultra-wealthy and corporations by hurting seniors and the middle class.”

Given the president’s “day job,” the official said he would have less time to prepare than he did four years ago, so preparations will largely be confined to immediately prior to the debate.

“The President has gotten increasingly punchier in recent remarks about Trump and plans to carry that theme through to the debate, while still projecting himself as the wise and steady leader in contrast to Trump’s chaos and division,” the official said.

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A spokesperson for CNN confirmed to Fox News Digital that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. did not qualify for the debate despite a late effort to be included alongside his top contenders.

Trump and Biden 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.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced he is filing a lawsuit against the state of New York for what he called “their direct attack on our democratic process through unconstitutional lawfare against President Trump.”

On Thursday, Bailey said on his podcast, “The Bailey Wire,” that his office would be taking steps to combat illicit prosecutions against the former president. 

Bailey said it’s time to restore the rule of law.

“Radical progressives in New York are trying to rig the 2024 election. We have to stand up and fight back,” he exclusively told Fox News Digital. 

GOP AG LAUNCHES NEW PROBE INTO COMMUNICATIONS FROM DOJ AND TRUMP PROSECUTORS

Andrew Bailey, Missouri’s attorney general, said he will sue New York for “their direct attack on our democratic process through unconstitutional lawfare against President Trump.” (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Bailey said the state’s actions against Trump sabotage Missourians’ right to a free and fair election.

“We have to fight back against a rogue prosecutor who is trying to take a presidential candidate off the campaign trail,” Bailey wrote on X.

Bailey’s office noted that the lawsuit will go straight to the U.S. Supreme Court because it is a state versus state action. His office said it will be titled “Missouri vs. New York.” 

Last month, Bailey probed the Justice Department for documents related to any communications with prosecutors connected to the indictments of former President Trump.

TRUMP’S ‘MODERN DAY SALEM WITCH TRIAL’ VERDICT SIGNALS ‘OPEN SEASON’ ON FORMER PRESIDENTS: EXPERTS

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and President Biden. (Getty Images )

“The investigations and subsequent prosecutions of former President Donald J. Trump appear to have been conducted in coordination with the United States Department of Justice,” Bailey alleges, adding that he believes that allegation is demonstrated in part by the move of the third-highest ranking DOJ official, Matthew Colangelo, to the Manhattan DA’s office to help prosecute the criminal case, N.Y. v. Trump.  

In addition, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg worked alongside New York Attorney General Letitia James in pursuing civil litigation against Trump, using that experience as a springboard from which to campaign for his current position, Bailey notes. 

NEW YORK APPEALS COURT REJECTS TRUMP’S BID TO LIFT GAG ORDER

“During that campaign, Bragg promised ‘if elected, [he] would go after Trump.’ Once he won election, he pledged ‘to personally focus on the high-profile probe into former President Donald Trump’s business practices,’” Bailey states. 

Bailey argues that Bragg’s decision to bring the prosecution “despite its transparent weakness has nonetheless had the effect of keeping former President Trump off the campaign trail, which President Biden has bragged about.” 

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“Given the timing (Bragg charged Trump only after Trump declared his candidacy for President), the transparent weakness of the charges, and the effect the charges have in keeping Trump off the campaign trail, there is substantial reason to suspect the Biden administration has coordinated with Bragg and others to bring prosecutions against Trump,” Bailey claims.

Fox News Digital’s Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report. 

President Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised a combined $85 million in May, which is their second-best month of fundraising this election cycle.

But the money raised by Biden and the DNC is far short of the staggering haul raised by former President Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee last month.

In announcing their May fundraising figures on Thursday evening, the Biden campaign also highlighted that they had a massive $212 million cash-on-hand as of the end of May. 

“Our strong and consistent fundraising program grew by millions of people in May, a clear sign of strong and growing enthusiasm for the President and Vice President every single month,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement. 

BIDEN STRIKES GOLD IN CALIFORNIA, ONE WEEK AFTER TRUMP’S MASSIVE HAUL IN THE BLUE BASTION 

President Biden’s re-election campaign scolded MSNBC and CNN on Wednesday for ignoring a “Black Voters for Biden-Harris” rally in Philadelphia. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Biden’s announcement came on the final day the presidential campaigns had to file their May fundraising figures with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

But the Trump campaign didn’t wait for the deadline to tout its May fundraising haul.

The former president’s campaign announced two and a half weeks ago that they and the RNC, fueled in part by the former president’s guilty verdicts in his criminal trial, combined hauled in a stunning $141 million in fundraising in May.

That was up from the $76 million they raised in April when they topped President Biden and the Democratic National Committee for the first time in their 2024 election rematch. 

Former President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower on May 30, 2024 in New York City after being found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)

Spotlighting their grassroots appeal, the Trump campaign said that the average dollar donation was $70.27 with 25% of the donors in May being first time contributors to the former president’s 2024 run.

The Trump cash announcement came in the wake of what his campaign showcased as “record-shattering” fundraising immediately after he was found guilty of all 34 felony counts in the first trial of a former or current president in the nation’s history.

The former president’s campaign highlighted that in the first 24 hours following Thursday evening’s verdict, they and the RNC hauled in nearly $53 million in fundraising, which counted towards May’s total. 

BILL AND HILLARY CLINTON HELP BIDEN RAISE BIG BUCKS 

The Biden campaign also raised funds off of the Trump verdict, and a source familiar told Fox News that “the 24 hours after the verdict were one of the best fundraising 24 hours of the Biden campaign since launch.”

Biden’s May haul came without any major fundraising events headlined by the president. The Biden campaign says that a majority of its May fundraising came from grassroots donors. 

The campaign has been using its funds to build up what appears to be a very formidable ground operation in the key battleground states and announced hours earlier on Thursday that they had hired their 1,000 staffer. The Biden campaign enjoys a large organizational advantage over team Trump when it comes to grassroots outreach and get-out-the-vote ground game efforts.

File photos of President Biden (left) and former President Trump ((AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson and Evan Vucci))

“The money we continue to raise matters, and it’s helping the campaign build out an operation that invests in reaching and winning the voters who will decide this election,” Chavez Rodriguez highlighted.

Biden’s campaign appears to enjoy a large cash-on-hand advantage over Trump, whose campaign didn’t report their cash-on-hand amount in announcing their May fundraising. The campaigns are not legally required to report those figures until the end of July, following the close of the second quarter of fundraising.

Biden enjoyed a $146 million to $88 million cash-on-hand advantage over Trump at the end of March, following the close of the first fundraising quarter of the year.

Trump has been aiming to close his fundraising gap with Biden, who had regularly been outpacing Trump in monthly fundraising.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump walks to the podium at a campaign event Tuesday, June 18, 2024, in Racine, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps) (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

Trump’s April haul was boosted by a record-setting $50.5 million that the former president’s campaign raked in at a single event early in the month with top dollar GOP donors that was hosted at the Palm Beach, Florida home of billionaire investor John Paulson.

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Both candidates have held top dollar fundraising events so far in June.

The president set a new Democratic Party fundraising record – according to his campaign – as he hauled in over $30 million at a star-studded fundraiser on Saturday in Los Angeles with former President Obama, Hollywood heavyweights George Clooney and Julia Roberts, and late night TV talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.

President Joe Biden (L) laughs with former President Barack Obama onstage during a campaign fundraiser at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on June 15, 2024. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images) (Getty Images)

And he brought in $8.1 million at a fundraiser at the Northern Virginia home of former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, where he was also joined by former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State and former Sen. Hillary Clinton, who was the Democrats’ 2016 standard-bearer.

Meanwhile, Trump’s team touted that they hauled in roughly $27.5 million during a fundraising swing by the former president in California and Nevada a week ago.

Fundraising, along with public opinion polling, is a key metric used to measure the strength of a candidate and their campaign. Money raised can be used to build up grassroots outreach and get-out-the-vote operations, staffing, travel and ads, among other things.

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…

– VP Harris gets a big promotion in ‘Queer Eye’ blooper

– Speaker Johnson urged to crack down on DEI

– Climate radicals target Taylor Swift

‘Very Damning’ Video

While White House officials are busy dismissing as “cheap fakes” a series of viral videos apparently showing President Biden in declining mental acuity, a conservative tech expert counters that the footage is genuinely troubling and that the Biden message shop is simply working to “gaslight” social media moderators and voters.

“The discredited right-wing critics of President Biden who spread other debunked lies, including that the 2020 election was stolen, are clearly threatened by the wide range of nonpartisan fact-checkers that have pulled back the curtain on the cheap fake smears they’re forced to rely on,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital.

“It’s very clear what’s going on here,” counter Heritage Foundation tech researcher Jake Denton. “They’re trying to push a new term underneath the school of misinformation to try and pressure social media companies to take action on videos of this nature.”

The reality is that the videos accurately reflect Biden’s current cognitive ability, Denton told Fox News Digital, saying Americans should “reject these terms and buzzwords and just assess the videos as they are, because they’re very damning.”

“It looks horrible because it is,” he said.

The Republican National Committee’s research division posted several videos on X that appeared to show President Biden in a “perpetual state of confusion.” The Biden White House dismisses them as “cheap fakes,” but one tech expert says the truth is “[i]t looks horrible because it is.”

White House

TIGHT-LIPPED: Biden admin won’t say whether it plans to reach out to Rachel Morin’s family …Read more

‘MADAM PRESIDENT’: VP Harris scores a big promotion in mistaken ‘Queer Eye’ video caption …Read more

SHOTGUN WEDDING: Experts warn Biden border order will lead to marriage fraud  …Read more

Capitol Hill

BORDER CONTRADICTION: Md. Dems lament mom’s murder allegedly by illegal migrant, yet praise Biden on border …Read more

‘WOKE’ WARS: Missouri senator pushes to eliminate DEI at the Pentagon  …Read more

ABORTION BY MAIL: 1800s-era law targeted by Senate Dems over key postal provision …Read more

VARSITY BLUES: Johnson urged by over 50 conservative groups to crack down on DEI in medical schools …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

MEME WARS: Biden donors put up $10M in effort to compete with Trump viral videos …Read more

WHY NOW?!: Biden campaign manager asked about timing of immigration executive order …Read more

LOWEST ON RECORD: New Yorkers turn on Democrat governor in new poll …Read more

ONE ON ONE: RFK Jr. fails to meet debate criteria, meaning it’s Trump vs. Biden, CNN says …Read more

FINAL COUNTDOWN: Insiders reveal how Biden, Trump are prepping for their first debate …Read more

NAME ‘THREE DRAG QUEENS’: Blue city mayor’s odd question to rival raises eyebrows …Read more

Drag queen “Pattie Gonia” was recently named one of National Geographic’s “Travelers of the Year.” (Christopher Polk / Contributor)

Across America

TROUBLE IN A SMALL TOWN: Florida mayor resigns via mass email to residents …Read more

‘INSIDIOUS’ BIAS: New lawsuit alleges a women’s medical program illegally excludes White women …Read more

EPA SUED AGAIN: Groups target trucking emissions standards …Read more

JUNETEENTH: Deep South state unveils monument honoring those who endured slavery …Read more

TAX CUTS: Red state governor signs income, property tax cuts into law …Read more

‘A GREAT DAY’: High Court delivers justice to Texas grandmother jailed for political retaliation  …Read more

LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO: Climate radicals target Taylor Swift’s private jet  …Read more

DEM MAYOR ‘OUSTER’: Oakland pol to face landmark recall vote …Read more

Around the World

ARMS FOR ALLIES: Taiwanese president gives thanks as US approves $360M weapons sale  …Read more

‘SCOURGE OF ANTISEMITISM’: French political rivals join forces to decry Jewish girl’s gang rape  …Read more

POOCH PACT: Kim commits to defending Russia, seals deal with gift of dogs …Read more

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un pet dogs during a walk in the garden of the Kumsusan Guesthouse in Pyongyang, North Korea in this image released by the Korean Central News Agency June 20, 2024.     (KCNA via REUTERS)

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

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who is rumored to be one of former President Trump’s top considerations for vice president, touted his and his wife’s relationship with Trump while stumping for him in Michigan on Thursday.

During a tour of West Michigan’s Sobie Meats butcher shop with his wife, North Dakota first lady Kathryn Burgum, the governor addressed speculation that he could be Trump’s choice to serve as vice president should he take back the White House this November.

Asked on Thursday whether he had any updates to provide on the vetting process for vice president, Burgum told reporters: “This will be my only second ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer of probably the last year, but no. … Haven’t heard any updates.”

Though he didn’t have any updates pertaining to Trump’s selection of a running mate, Burgum said he’s “had a lot of discussions” with the former president in recent months.

NORTH DAKOTA GOV, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DOUG BURGUM FRONT AND CENTER AT TRUMP NEW JERSEY RALLY

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and his wife, Kathryn Burgum, stand alongside former President Trump at a caucus night rally at the Treasure Island Casino in Las Vegas on Feb. 8. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“It’s been a real honor for Kathryn and I to have spent as much time with the president as we have since we first endorsed him,” he said. “We were the first presidential candidate who dropped out to endorse him. We were there on the stage in Iowa on that historic night. We were there with him in Nevada.”

Burgum said he and his wife are readily available to assist Trump with his campaign, noting that he told the former president, “‘Hey, we’re on call. Call us if you need us, and we’ll go.'”

“So we had a chance to spend quite a bit of time with him, and across that we’ve had a lot of discussions,” he added.

Burgum said he and his wife had gotten to know Trump “in a much closer way” and insisted he is “incredibly hard-working.”

“He thinks about solutions in pure common sense, and he thinks about it in terms of what’s best for America,” he added of Trump. “He is super curious. You go to a fundraiser with him or a roundtable, and he’ll ask questions of everybody that’s there. He’s always sampling, he’s always learning. So I think he’s getting great input and he’s getting input from the American people on these policies.”

Although it is still unclear who Trump will select as his running mate for the upcoming presidential election, which is less than five months away, a report published last week brought into focus the former president and first lady’s relationship with Burgum and his family.

MELANIA WILL ‘MOST CERTAINLY’ HAVE INFLUENCE ON TRUMP’S VP PICK, SAYS FORMER WHITE HOUSE AIDE

Former President Donald Trump listens as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum speaks during a Nevada Republican caucus night watch party in Las Vegas on Feb. 8. (Ian Maule/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Puck report highlighted Melania Trump’s relationship with Kathryn and pointed to how Kathryn “worked with Melania on multiple occasions, including on building recovery-friendly workplaces” during Trump’s presidency.

The report also highlighted how the Burgums were invited to the White House to celebrate the signing of the First Step Act criminal justice reform initiative, an issue the outlet said is “particularly important to Kathryn.”

Additionally, the outlet noted how the two couples “bonded” with one another at Mar-a-Lago for an Easter brunch this year.

Burgum has attended numerous rallies and events to offer support for the former president in recent weeks and months, further adding to speculation that he is gunning to serve as Trump’s running mate in the 2024 election.

During his trip to Michigan on Thursday, Burgum spoke favorably of Trump’s ability to communicate with Americans ahead of the June 27 presidential debate.

“There’s never been a better politician, a better debater, a better communicator. I mean, you look at the size of the rallies where people show up to hear President Trump… it’s historic,” he said. “It’s really remarkable the way he can connect with people. And I’m sure he’s going to do that during the debate.”

From left: House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.; Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin; South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem; and South Carolina Gov. Tim Scott are among those floated as a possible vice presidential running mate for former President Trump. (Getty Images)

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Burgum, who traveled to New York City to support the former president during his trial last month, also touted Trump’s record on immigration during his visit to the Great Lakes State, saying, “No one’s been stronger on the border.”

Trump’s decision on who he will select as his running mate isn’t expected to be made public until this summer’s Republican National Convention, which is slated to take place in Milwaukee from July 15-18.