NationalWatch

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She reiterated that argument on the campaign trail Monday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey and Kirill Clark contributed to this report.

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

FIRST ON FOX: President Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden, paid off thousands in taxes owed since 2015, Pennsylvania Department of Revenue filings show. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BIDEN DAUGHTER ADDS TO LENGTHY FAMILY HISTORY OF TAX ISSUES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fox News’ Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Suburban voters are also impacting presidential preference in other states.

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

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

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

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

Another western state is also in the battleground state column.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY: 2023 SAW NEW MILESTONE FOR GUN RIGHTS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fox News’ Kyle Morris contributed to this report. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said Sunday she would pardon former President Trump if he is convicted of a federal crime, saying it was time “to move forward.” 

“I would pardon Donald Trump because I think it’s important for the country to move on,” Haley said during a Fox News town hall in South Carolina. “We’ve got to leave the negativity… behind.”

Trump, the current GOP frontrunner, is facing multiple legal hurdles, with the most recent development out of his New York civil fraud case being he was barred from operating his business in New York and fined more than $350 million.

Last week, Trump asked the Supreme Court to extend the delay in the trial stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s 2020 election interference case, arguing that he has presidential immunity to protect him from prosecution. His attorneys filed the emergency appeal days after a D.C. appeals court ruled he is not immune from prosecution in Smith’s case.

HALEY SAYS SHE HAS ‘ONE MORE FELLOW TO CATCH UP TO’ AS SHE MAKES FINAL PUSH AHEAD OF SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY

Haley stated she no longer wished for division in the country, and it would not be “in the best interest for America to have an 80-year-old president sitting in jail and having everybody upset about it.”

HALEY: CONGRESS IS ‘LYING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE’ BY TYING FOREIGN AID TO BORDER SECURITY

“I think this would be the time that we would need to move forward and get this out of the way,” Haley said. 

Haley took several digs at both Trump and the Republican Party during her town hall appearance, while continuing to tout her platform. 

“I look at where we started, there were 14 candidates in the race,” Haley said. “We’ve defeated a dozen fellas. I just have one more fellow to catch up to. And through it all, there have been naysayers and that’s OK. I’m used to being an underdog.”

Haley also stated Trump had a “temper tantrum” following the New Hampshire results, where she finished with 43% of the vote. 

“The night that we got 43% of the vote, President Trump literally became unhinged and went on a temper tantrum,” she said. “And all he did was talk about revenge. And then the next day he said, anybody who supported me was barred permanently from MAGA.”

Haley proceeded to knock both Trump and President Biden for their ages, as Trump is 77 and Biden is 81.

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“Both of those men put us trillions of dollars in debt that our kids are never going to forgive us for. And are we really going to put all of our problems and issues in the hands of two 80-year-olds running for president?” Haley said. “We need someone who can serve eight years fully working, fully disciplined and ready to get the job done. We can’t go and take the chance of doing this with two 80-year-olds.”

Haley’s town hall comes ahead of the Feb. 24 South Carolina primary, where she will face off against Trump.

Fox News’ Landon Mion and Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton warned this weekend that former President Trump will try to withdraw the U.S. from NATO if he wins re-election in November.

Clinton made the claim during remarks at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, telling U.S. allies that they should take Trump’s claims to heart after the former president warned NATO countries to contribute their fair share.

“We have a long struggle ahead of us, and the obvious point to make about Donald Trump is take him literally and seriously,” she said. “He means what he says. People did not take him literally and seriously in 2016. Now he is telling us what he intends to do, and people who try to wish it away, brush it away, are living in an alternative reality.”

“He will do everything he can to become an absolute authoritarian leader if given the opportunity to do so. And he will pull us out of NATO even though the Congress passed a resolution saying that he couldn’t without congressional support, because he will just not fund our obligations,” she said.

NATO MEMBERS BRACE FOR TRUMP WIN AS RECORD NUMBER OF MEMBERS MOVE TO MEET SPENDING PLEDGES

Clinton’s comments seemed directed toward NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, who has said he is confident the U.S. will “remain a strong ally and committed ally” regardless of the outcome this November.

BIDEN SAYS TRUMP QUESTIONING EUROPEAN COMMITMENT TO NATO IS ‘DUMB,’ ‘UN-AMERICAN’

Trump has been heavily critical of NATO on the campaign trail in recent weeks, doubling down on his claim that member countries should not receive protection if they do not pay their share toward NATO’s budget.

Stoltenberg did say last week that Trump’s rhetoric does “undermine” the security of the alliance.

“The whole idea of NATO is that an attack on one ally will trigger a response from the whole alliance and as long as we stand behind that message together, we prevent any military attack on any ally,” Stoltenberg said.

“Any suggestion that we are not standing up for each other, that we are not going to protect each other, that does undermine the security of all of us.”

While Stoltenberg expressed concern over Trump’s remarks, the former president’s comment did spark a rush to confirm member countries’ contributions in the coming year.

The NATO chief announced that 18 of the alliance’s 31 members are on track to meet their pledges of contributing 2% of GDP to the group. European states are on track to contribute $380 billion this year, and Germany will meet its 2% pledge for the first time since the Cold War.

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The figures show a dramatic uptick compared to 2023, which saw just 11 NATO allies meet their 2% spending pledge.

The No Labels organization says it is still considering options for a third party presidential candidate after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., decided not to run.

“We’re talking with several exceptional leaders. We have our own internal process,” No Labels national co-chair, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, said Sunday on MSNBC’s “The Weekend.” 

“In the next couple of weeks or more, we will probably make an announcement whether or not we will give the ballot access to a unity ticket,” Chavis, a longtime civil rights activist and former executive director of the NAACP, added. “A unity ticket means a Republican and a Democrat. And we are talking to Republicans, Democrats, and independents.”

Chavis said that No Labels has qualified for the ballot in 16 states so far ahead of the 2024 election and is still working to qualify for all 50, pushing back against co-host Michael Steele’s argument that it would be challenging for No Labels or any third-party ticket to win come November. 

JOE MANCHIN WILL NOT LAUNCH THIRD-PARTY PRESIDENTIAL RUN

“It’s a long, tedious process. And we’re very pleased with the voter access that we’ve gotten so far. And we’re going to keep pushing,” he said. 

“We’re in a state of uncertainty in our nation. The only thing that’s certain right now is uncertainty,” So I don’t think we should speculate on what’s going to happen because nobody really knows. What we do know is that the majority of the American people don’t want to see a repeat of 2020,” Chavis added. 

Manchin announced Friday that he will not be running for president, shooting down months of speculation that he would join the race on a third-party ticket. 

FORMER MARYLAND GOV LARRY HOGAN ANNOUNCES REPUBLICAN RUN FOR SENATE

“I will not be seeking a third-party run, I will not be involved in a presidential run,” Manchin said during a speech at West Virginia University as part of his “listening tour” that kicked off last month with his daughter’s campaign group “Americans Together” — a movement that touts itself as the “moderate majority” that rejects the “extremism in politics.” 

Another potential No Labels candidate, former Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a vocal critic of former President Trump, decided earlier this month instead to run for an open U.S. Senate seat in his state to be vacated by the retiring three-term Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin.

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No Labels, which has vowed not to choose a spoiler candidate for either Trump or President Biden ahead of a likely 2020 rematch, said it would decide whether or not to put forward a unity presidential ticket around Super Tuesday on March 5. 

Republicans hoping to pick up an open U.S. Senate seat in deep blue Maryland have the most competitive candidate they’ve fielded for decades. But former Gov. Larry Hogan will need more than GOP support to overcome sustained outrage about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down constitutional protections for abortion.

With Maryland voters set to decide whether to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution in November, it may be harder for Hogan to reassemble the bipartisan coalition that elected him to the governor’s office in 2014 and kept him there four years later.

His task was laid out vividly by Lynn Johnson Langer, a Democrat walking to lunch in downtown Annapolis several days after Hogan announced his Senate bid. Hogan is likable enough to have won her vote in his second campaign for governor, but the stakes are too high for her to support handing Republicans another win in a closely divided Senate.

FORMER MARYLAND GOV LARRY HOGAN ANNOUNCES REPUBLICAN RUN FOR SENATE

“We need more Democrats, so, sorry Hogan,” Langer said. “I don’t think he’s a bad guy. Like I said, I don’t always agree with him. In fact, a lot I don’t agree with him.”

Hogan’s decision to veto legislation to expand abortion access in Maryland in 2022 lingers with voters like Langer. She supports abortion rights unequivocally and said she probably will back a candidate who doesn’t hedge.

Hogan has said he does not support taking abortion rights away, even though he personally opposes abortion. However, as governor, he vetoed legislation to end a restriction that only physicians provide abortions. When his veto was overridden by Democrats who control the Legislature, he used the power of his office to block funding set aside to support training non-physicians to perform them.

Abortion already is protected in Maryland law, but Democrats who control the Legislature voted last year to put a state constitutional amendment before voters. In doing so they were following a proven political formula used successfully by several states in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision.

“This is an issue the Democrats care about, and this is a big thing about Maryland: It doesn’t matter how popular you are with your base, and it doesn’t matter how popular you are among independents, the path to the Senate in Maryland goes through the Democratic Party,” said Mileah Kromer, an associate professor of political science at Goucher College, who has written a book about Hogan. “You need Democratic votes to win, and that’s just the math of the state.”

Hogan attracted national attention during his tenure as governor as one of the rare Republicans willing to criticize Donald Trump, who appointed three conservative justices that created the Supreme Court’s conservative majority that voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. Now, Hogan will be on the same ballot as the former president, who is deeply unpopular in Maryland.

Mary Kfoury, a Democrat who lives in Edgewater, Maryland, praised Hogan for speaking out against Trump, though that’s not enough to get her vote.

“I really don’t think we can afford to have a Republican,” Kfoury said. “I want to keep Maryland as blue as possible, especially with things as close as they are, but I think if we had to have a Republican in the Senate he would be a terrific person to have, because he truly states what he thinks and he’s for more traditional Republican values and has bravely spoken against Trump.”

Hogan focused his governorship on pocketbook concerns, largely avoiding social issues and maintaining civility with the Legislature. In a video announcing his candidacy, he highlighted that aspect of his tenure.

“For eight years, we proved that the toxic politics that divide our nation need not divide our state,” Hogan said. “We overcame unprecedented challenges, cut taxes eight years in a row, balanced the budget, and created a record surplus. And we did it all by finding common ground for the common good.”

While Kromer describes Hogan’s Senate candidacy as “an uphill battle,” she said it would be wrong to dismiss a candidate who consistently maintained high approval ratings during his eight years as governor, despite the 2-1 advantage Democrats hold over Republicans in the state.

“For me, it’s not just that Hogan was popular, it was that Hogan was persistently popular for eight years,” said Kromer, who wrote “Blue State Republican: How Larry Hogan Won Where Republicans Lose and Lessons for a Future GOP.”

Democrats running to succeed retiring Sen. Ben Cardin pounced on concerns about abortion rights, after Hogan announced his surprise Senate bid just hours before the state’s filing deadline.

“We know what’s at stake in this election — our fundamental freedoms over our bodies,” said Angela Alsobrooks, the chief executive in Prince George’s County, the state’s second-largest jurisdiction in the suburbs of the nation’s capital.

Alsobrooks, who could make history as Maryland’s first Black U.S. senator, is running in the Democratic primary against U.S. Rep David Trone, the wealthy founder of Total Wine and More who has invested more than $23 million in his own campaign.

Hogan, speaking publicly for the first time since announcing his candidacy last week, told CNN on Wednesday that “I would not vote to support a national abortion ban.”

He also said that while he understands “why this is such an important and emotional issue for women across Maryland and across the country,” he doesn’t believe the constitutional amendment in Maryland is necessary, because abortion rights already are protected in state law.

The state approved legislation in 1991 to protect abortion rights if the Supreme Court were to allow abortion to be restricted. Voters showed their support for the law the following year, when 62% backed it in a referendum.

“I think Democrats put this on the ballot to try to make it a political issue, and voters can make their decision on whether they think it’s important or not, but it’s not going to change anything in our state,” Hogan told CNN.

Alsobrooks said Hogan’s comments echoed years of Republican rhetoric asserting that public policy on abortion had been “settled law.”

“That’s what they told us right up until the day they overturned Roe v. Wade and took away a 50-year precedent that had protected our rights,” Alsobrooks said in a statement.

The Maryland legislation approved in 2022 to expand abortion access was passed after supporters contended the measure was needed because the state didn’t have enough providers. They also said the state needed to be prepared to respond to a growing number of women coming to Maryland for abortions after bans in other states.

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After his veto was overridden, Hogan, who is Catholic, refused to release $3.5 million in the state budget to help fund training. One of Democratic Gov. Wes Moore’s first actions as governor last year was to release the money that Hogan had withheld.

Hogan entered a GOP primary with seven other candidates, none as well known politically as the former governor. One of the candidates, Robin Ficker, garnered national attention years ago as an acid-tongued sports heckler at basketball games for Washington’s NBA team when it played in Landover, Maryland.

A Republican has not won a U.S. Senate election in Maryland since 1980.

An effort by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) process health care treatment for illegal immigrants despite a growing backlog of U.S. veterans led to uproar among several lawmakers, but one notable Democrat has been tight-lipped about the matter.

So far, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., has been silent about efforts by the VA to assist with healthcare claims made by illegal immigrants who are currently held in ICE’s custody as the backlog for veterans’ claims piles up.

Tester serves as chair of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, which has primary jurisdiction over the VA and works to address problems and issues related to veterans in the United States.

The arrangement between the VA’s Financial Service Center (VA-FSC) and ICE to process claims for migrant medical care is a longstanding one that actually predates the Biden administration and was outlined in a 2020 memo during former President Donald Trump’s administration.

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When an illegal migrant under ICE detention requires health care, they are typically treated onsite by medical professionals. However, if specialist or emergency care is required, they may be taken to an independent private provider.

In such cases, ICE contracts with the VA’s Financial Service Center (VA-FSC) to process reimbursements to those providers. According to a report from July, ICE has hundreds of letters of understanding in which ICE’s Health Service Corps (IHSC) will reimburse providers at Medicare rates. That uses the VA-FSC’s Healthcare Claims Processing System, which is a portal that allows providers to submit and view claims and access other resources.

The VA told Fox News Digital in December that it has had an interagency agreement with the IHSC since 2002 to provide processing, but it also noted that the department neither provides health care nor pays for it. Under the agreement with IHSC, ICE pays fees for the claims processing services rendered and covers disbursements made to pay for claims.

However, the crisis at the border, with record numbers of migrants crossing into the U.S. and needing medical care, has likely worsened what one former veterans’ affairs adviser told Fox News Digital in December was a “history of a backlog of medical claims which has resulted in veterans getting bills they shouldn’t be getting, and … having dissatisfied community care providers who are not getting paid in a timely manner.”

In 2013, Tester voted against an amendment offered by then-Sen. Jeff Session, R-Ala., to prevent illegal immigrants from accessing free, taxpayer-funded healthcare. That amendment, which failed in a vote of 43 to 56, would have established a “deficit-neutral reserve fund to achieve savings by prohibiting illegal immigrants or illegal immigrants granted legal status from qualifying for federally subsidized health care.”

Unlike Tester, Montana’s junior senator, Republican Steve Daines, has voiced strong opposition to the Biden administration’s controversial effort to divert certain resources from the VA to process claims made by illegal immigrants.

“Montana has the second-highest number of veterans per capita in the country and every day I hear stories about the deteriorating access to quality care provided by the VA,” Daines said in a statement. “According to data from the VA, at Fort Harrison VA Medical Center – Montana’s largest VA health care facility – wait times can be as long as 123 days for veterans seeking dental care and 70 days for those needing mental health care appointments.”

“Additionally, there are nearly 318,221 backlogged claims nationally – which includes disability compensation and pension claims that have been received by VA that requires development and a decision by a VA claims processor – as of September 2023,” he added. “This represents a nearly 10 year high. In stark contrast, illegal immigrants in ICE facilities appear to face low barriers to accessing specialty or emergency health care. This disparity is unacceptable and dishonors Montana’s veterans who must deal with long wait times and excessive delays to see health care providers.”

Daines insisted the “Biden administration created this humanitarian and national security crisis at the border” and reiterated that he believes the “crisis can only be fixed by deliberate and targeted policy changes that enforce the rule of law, tighten our asylum standards, rein in the Department of Homeland Security’s parole power, and finish the southern border wall.”

VA GETS FLAK FOR USING STAFF TO HELP ICE PROCESS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HEALTH CARE DESPITE BACKLOG OF VETERANS

GOP Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who are also members of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, have also been outspoken against the VA’s effort.

Last month, Blackburn sent a letter to the VA, questioning the agency about its use of resources for the healthcare of illegal immigrants. Addressed to Secretary Denis McDonough, Blackburn rejected the VA’s premise that it does not provide healthcare to those in ICE custody and questioned whether the agency checks citizenship status prior to approving veteran healthcare benefits, as well as whether the Biden administration has given a directive on medical care for those migrants, according to the Washington Examiner.

Blackburn’s letter also pointed to a 2022 fiscal year report by the Department of Homeland Security that detailed “ICE spent more than $373.5 million on detained noncitizen healthcare,” according to the outlet.

Echoing Blackburn, Tuberville has also raised red flags about the effort. During an interview last week with Fox News Digital, he touted his recently introduced No VA Resources for Illegal Aliens Act, which he introduced alongside Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., that would ban such action.

“[Biden’s] decided, OK, we’ve got to feed all these 10 million people we’ve let come across the border, we’ve got to house them, and we’ve got to give them health care,” Tuberville said. “They’ve opened up care from the doctors in these [VA] community care systems. The lines now in the VA’s are getting longer. Our funds that are supposed to go to the veterans are going to these illegal immigrants that are coming across.”

Tuberville lamented that the VA was already not able to provide care for all 19 million veterans living across the country and that the community systems he mentioned had helped reduce wait times until the border crisis began to get worse.

Tester, who has represented Montana in the Senate since 2007, faces a tough re-election battle in the state former President Donald Trump carried by more than 16 points in the 2020 presidential election. And the nationwide attention given to the southern border crisis in recent years has only made his re-election campaign more difficult.

In a May 2023 interview with MSNBC, more than two months after he announced he would seek re-election to his post in the Senate, Tester said he believed President Biden had “helped” secure the southern border.

“I think the big issue here is that we need to make sure the southern border is secure, and I think the president has helped do that,” he said at the time.

Tester, who has stood up against some of the Biden administration’s actions related to the border and immigration, took aim at his fellow lawmakers last week who voted against a supplemental spending package that included spending on border security as well as aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

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“Montanans from every corner of our state tell me they want action to secure our southern border, and we have a bipartisan bill that would give ICE, Border Patrol, and law enforcement the resources and policy changes they need to actually get the job done,” Tester told Fox News Digital at the time. “But instead, D.C. politicians have chosen to play reckless political games, and we’re seeing the consequences play out right in front of our eyes.”

That legislation was defeated in a 49-50 vote, mostly along party lines, with only Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, James Lankford and Mitt Romney voted in favor of advancing the bill on the Republican side.

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

Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley alleged Sunday that Congress is “lying to the American people” by tying foreign aid to border security. 

“Congress is failing because they’re making this sound like you have to choose between Ukraine and Israel, or securing the border. They are lying to the American people. That’s a false premise. We can do both,” Haley said during an appearance on ABC’s This Week. “Securing our southern border is priority number one, but making sure that we help Ukraine and Israel is also about preventing war. If we just supported Ukraine and Israel, that’s only 5% of our defense budget. If we supported Ukraine, Israel and secured the border, that’s less than 20% of Biden’s green subsidies. So this is not about the American people having to choose either/or. This is about Joe Biden and Congress understanding that they need to choose national security. They need to choose preventing war, and their job is to keep Americans safe, and they have to communicate that to the American people, and they are not doing that right now.”  

ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl pressed Haley on a message to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who said he wouldn’t be “rushed” into approving the $95.3 billion foreign aid package from the Senate that could come up for a vote in the lower chamber of Congress. But Haley said it was President Biden who needs to take a better approach. 

“Well first, I think you have to talk about what Joe Biden should be doing,” Haley said. “First of all, the reason you’re seeing America become more isolationist is that at no point has Joe Biden had a conversation with the American people about why Ukraine is important. At no point has he had a conversation with them – with the American people about the terrorist activity that’s happening with Israel and why Iran is so dangerous. At no point is he talking about the threat of China, and when you don’t talk about those things with the American people, they’re going to distance themselves from it. And so, Joe Biden has failed on that front. That has emboldened our enemies.” 

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As for former President Donald Trump, Haley contended he “doesn’t worry about Putin invading Ukraine,” so now the Russian president is putting soldiers around the Baltic region. 

“He’s moving in for the next era,” Haley said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Let’s remind the American people that Putin said once he takes Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics are next. Now he is putting soldiers around those countries just as he did Ukraine. And if that happens, those are NATO countries, that immediately puts America at war. That is what we’re trying to avoid, and that’s why this aid package is so important. Ukraine’s not asking for troops. They’re just asking for the equipment and ammunition to win this war. They have a great fighting force. We need to give them what they need so that they can win so that we can prevent having to send any of our military men and women to fight.” 

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If the $95 billion aid package was put to a vote, Johnson would find overwhelming support in the House from a coalition of Democrats and Republicans. Anchoring the package is $61 billion for Ukraine, mainly in the form of military equipment from the U.S. It also sends foreign assistance and humanitarian aid to Israel, Gaza and allies in the Indo-Pacific region, including Taiwan.

Yet the reported death of Alexei Navalny, the most famous political prisoner in Russia and Putin’s biggest rival, did not appear to move Johnson to commit on Friday. 

“As Congress debates the best path forward to support Ukraine, the United States, and our partners, must be using every means available to cut off Putin’s ability to fund his unprovoked war in Ukraine and aggression against the Baltic states,” Johnson said in a statement.

Haley, Trump’s former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina governor, will face off against Trump in the Feb. 24 South Carolina primary. 

On Sunday, she also tried to accuse Trump of siding “with a guy who kills his political opponents,” referring to Putin as, “a thug who arrests American journalists and holds them hostage.” 

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Karl also asked Haley if she would endorse Trump if he becomes the Republican presidential nominee, but she deflected and stressed that if Trump is the nominee, that would ensure that current Vice President Kamala Harris is elected president in November. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.