NationalWatch

The Biden administration on Thursday announced a narrow new rule that would allow officials to remove some illegal immigrants considered a public safety or national security threat much earlier in the asylum process.

The rule would allow statutory denials to asylum typically applied later in the asylum process to be applied earlier at the initial screening process, which typically happens within days of someone arriving at the border. It would apply to those considered a risk to national security, including terrorists, or public safety.

A epartment of Homeland Security (DHS) senior official who briefed reporters noted it would likely only affect a small population but said it would be “an important additional tool in our toolbox that will allow us to remove individuals much more quickly who may pose a risk to the United States, enhancing our security at the border, while at the same time saving taxpayer money.”

TAXPAYER-FUNDED ID PROGRAM FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS EXPECTED TO BEGIN THIS SUMMER

The administration also announced revised guidance that allows asylum officers to consider whether an asylum seeker could instead relocate to a different part of his home country when assessing if he has a basis for asylum. 

The administration says it wants to see more sweeping changes to what it says is a “broken” system but says those changes can only come from congressional action.

“The proposed rule we have published today is yet another step in our ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of the American public by more quickly identifying and removing those individuals who present a security risk and have no legal basis to remain here,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. 

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO PROPOSE NARROW ASYLUM REGULATION AS BORDER CRISIS REMAINS TOP ISSUE: REPORT

“We will continue to take action, but fundamentally it is only Congress that can fix what everyone agrees is a broken immigration system,” he said.

The Biden administration last year enacted a broader asylum rule that makes illegal immigrants ineligible for asylum if they have crossed multiple countries without claiming asylum. But it is unclear what effect that has had. Numbers have dropped in recent months, but only after hitting a record high of more than 200,000 encounters in December. 

The rule is unlikely to satisfy Republican critics, who have blamed the administration for rolling back Trump-era policies and enacting what they say are “open border” policies. 

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., called the rule “an unserious, politically motivated attempt to address a significant problem the Biden administration itself created.”

“The rule will not impact or reduce the millions of illegitimate asylum claims being filed by economic migrants. The department currently cannot properly vet the vast majority of illegal aliens crossing the border, as numerous tragic reports from our communities make clear. The Biden administration, however, would have us believe that vetting under this rule will somehow be effective,” Green said, responding to reports of the rule on Wednesday and adding “nothing will change.”

The administration has rejected claims it is embracing “open border” policies and has pointed to stats it says show more than 720,000 removals or returns of illegal immigrants since May 2023, more than in every full fiscal year since 2011.

Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration 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? 

– Biden faces backlash for reported plan to withhold some weapons from Israel…

– Hunter Biden loses attempts to dismiss criminal charges…

– Trump’s stormy day in court…

‘We are so innocent’

Stormy Daniels wrapped up her testimony in the Trump trial, before a smattering of other witnesses were called to the stand. Judge Juan Merchan also handed Trump a double denial – rejecting motions for a mistrial, and defense attorneys’ request to modify the gag order now that former porn performer Daniels has finished her testimony. 

Trump’s team argued that Daniels’ time on the stand was highly prejudicial, and had nothing to do with the charges about falsifying business records for a $130,000 payment to Daniels to sign and NDA, and not share her story of having sex once with Trump. 

Trump has denied Daniels’ claims consistently, and defense attorney Susan Necheles worked hard Thursday to point out how Daniels’ story has changed over the years. Trump’s attorneys argued that now, with the porn actress’ testimony concluded, he should be able to defend himself publicly. But Merchan disagreed, saying that though Daniels was a difficult witness to control, and much of some of her testimony was “unnecessary” and “irrelevant,” the gag order would stand.

“We are so innocent,” Trump said after court adjourned Thursday. He railed against Merchan as “totally conflicted” and “corrupt.” 

White House

UNDER WRAPS: Biden decision to pull Israel weapons shipment reportedly kept quiet until after Holocaust address …Read more

‘QUID PRO JOE’: Biden impeachment articles coming over threats to Israel aid, GOP lawmaker says …Read more

‘FALSE AND INSULTING’: FBI pushes back on report that it urges employees to use warrantless wiretaps on Americans …Read more

DENIED: Federal court rejects Hunter Biden appeal in Delaware case …Read more

Capitol Hill

CALLED TO CONGRESS: House GOP invites disgraced Georgia prosecutor Nathan Wade to ‘interview’ with Judiciary committee …Read more

ACT FAST: Dems push Biden on amnesty for illegals before possible Trump victory …Read more

CAVING IN: GOP furious as Dems take victory lap over Biden’s threat to Israel weapons aid …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

BIDENOMICS BLASTED: Billionaire CEO blasts Bidenomics agenda, gives it a failing grade …Read more

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Barron Trump to enter politics as Florida delegate at GOP convention …Read more

Campus Chaos

‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING?’: University investigates after female student confronted trans woman in bathroom …Read more

‘NATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT’: Universities would ‘pay a hefty price’ for allowing encampments under new legislation …Read more

Across America

TEAMING UP: 22 Red states form alliance and sue Biden admin over Title IX changes …Read more

IVF FOR ALL: NYC sued for denying in vitro fertilization coverage to gay male employees …Read more

‘REASON TO SUSPECT’: Missouri AG files FOIA requests for DOJ communications with Trump prosecutors …Read more

‘GOTAWAYS’: Hundreds of illegal immigrants evading Border Patrol each day …Read more

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

Judge Juan Merchan denied Trump defense attorneys’ request for a mistrial and a modification of the gag order on Thursday, arguing that the former president should be able to defend himself against Stormy Daniels’ salacious and “prejudicial” testimony. 

Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche first requested a mistrial on Tuesday after Daniels’ first day on the stand but was denied. Merchan did, however, admit she was a difficult witness to control and said much of her testimony was “unnecessary” and “irrelevant” to the charges. 

Trump attorneys on Thursday again requested a mistrial.

Blanche said that the prosecution asked Daniels “a whole host of questions” that never should have been asked, pointing to questions about the porn actress’ childhood and her alleged interaction with Trump. Blanche argued they were “things that are irrelevant to the facts of this case.” 

Blanche reminded that the case is not about sex, and again stressed that Daniels’ testimony was “extraordinarily prejudicial for the jury to hear.” 

Blanche continued that many of the questions asked by the prosecution were “prejudicial.” 

STORMY DANIELS’ SALACIOUS AFFAIR STORY KEEPS CHANGING BECAUSE ENCOUNTER NEVER HAPPENED, TRUMP TEAM CLAIMS

“It is so dangerous, so prejudicial, it borders on a problem from the beginning,” Blanche said, adding that Daniels’ testimony and story about the alleged sexual encounter kept changing. 

Defense attorney Susan Necheles declared earlier Thursday that Daniels “made it up.”

Meanwhile, Blanche was referring to salacious and sexually explicit questions asked of Daniels during questioning by the prosecution, stressing that the questions had nothing to do with the alleged falsification of business records–which are the only charges Trump is facing,  

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass defended Daniels and her testimony, saying that it “is not a change of story.” 

“They’re trying to have their cake and eat it too,” Steinglass said. 

Merchan explained that at each trial, evidence comes in different ways. 

Merchan reminded Blanche that during his opening argument, he denied Trump had a sexual encounter with Stormy Daniels. 

“Your denial puts the jury in a position to decide who to believe,” Merchan said, and added that the defense could have objected many times during Daniels’ testimony, “but didn’t.” 

With regard to one explicit detail, Merchan said he agreed that “shouldn’t have come out…but for the life of me, I don’t know why Ms. Necheles didn’t object.”

Merchan told Blanche that he made decisions to strike things from the record to “protect” Trump, and said he disagrees with any changing narrative, while adding that the details “add a sense of credibility.” 

Merchan denied the motion. 

The prosecution, on Thursday, also said they would no longer call Playboy model Karen McDougal as a witness, who also allegedly received a hush money payment about an alleged affair with Trump. 

Steinglass defended the decision, saying they did not “change their minds” about calling her, and said prosecutors never formally decided if they would use her as a witness during trial. 

TOP 5 MOMENTS OF TRUMP TRIAL AFTER ‘SALACIOUS’ STORMY DANIELS TESTIMONY

Meanwhile, Blanche also asked Merchan to modify the gag order imposed upon the former president, which blocks him from discussing court staff and witnesses. Blanche requested Trump be released to discuss Daniels. 

Blanche said that Trump should be able to respond to allegations of a sexual encounter in 2006 with Daniels—especially now that her testimony is complete and she is no longer an active witness. 

Prosecutors, however, argued that the defense “lives in an alternate reality,” and defended the gag order, saying it is working. Prosecutors also said Trump allies are making his case for him in news interviews. 

But Merchan denied the request, saying his “concern is not just protecting Daniels.” 

“My concern is protecting the integrity of these proceedings as a whole,” Merchan said, adding that the reason the gag order is in place is due to the nature of potential Trump attacks. 

“Your client’s track record speaks for itself,” Merchan said to Blanche. 

Merchan, though, said he would be mindful of witnesses using the gag order imposed upon Trump as a shield. 

Merchan imposed a gag order on the former president, an order he has ruled Trump to have violated at least 10 times. He has fined Trump $10,000 so far, and warned of jail time for further violations.

“The last thing I want to consider is jail,” Merchan said Monday. “You are [the] former president and possibly the next president.” 

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges stem from a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

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The charges are related to alleged payments made ahead of the 2016 presidential election to silence Daniels about an alleged 2006 extramarital affair with Trump.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg must convince the jury that, not only did Trump falsify business records related to alleged hush money payments, he did so in furtherance of another crime — conspiracy to promote or prevent election, which would be a felony. 

On their own, falsifying business records and conspiracy to promote or prevent election are misdemeanor charges. 

Shortly after President Biden announced Wednesday that he would withhold weapons from Israel if it entered the southern Gaza city of Rafah, former Vice President Mike Pence accused him of hypocrisy, in light of how his former boss was impeached on similar grounds.

On Wednesday, Biden lamented Gazan civilian casualties to CNN host Erin Burnett, telling her he “made it clear if they go into Rafah… I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah; to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem.”

“We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently. It’s just wrong.”

On X, formerly Twitter, Pence tore into Biden, calling his comments “totally unacceptable.”

JOHNSON: ‘I HOPE ITS A SENIOR MOMENT’ WHEN BIDEN THREATENED TO PULL ISRAEL SUPPORT

“I’m old enough to remember when Democrats impeached another president for supposedly withholding foreign aid that had been approved by Congress,” he said.

“Stop the threats, Joe. America Stands with Israel.”

In comments to Fox News Digital, Pence said Biden abandoned Israel in order to “win over the Hamas apologist wing of his party.”

“Israel is our ally and the only message we should be sending is that we will stand beside them until they finish the job in Gaza and eradicate Hamas, once and for all,” Pence said. 

“Congress passed the legislation, President Biden signed it, and it is his job to execute it. He can’t withhold aid for political convenience.”

The Indiana Republican said Democrats used the same exact argument to impeach then-President Trump over his 2018 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump reportedly asked Zelenskyy to look into the Hunter Biden-Burisma affair while dangling $214 million in U.S. security assistance, which Democrats considered an act of soliciting foreign election interference.

“Israel is our most cherished ally,” Pence went on to say. “And they deserve American support to defeat Hamas – not to be used as a political pawn.” 

On Thursday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., took his criticism a step further by calling on the House to initiate similar impeachment proceedings against the incumbent.

US LAW COULD FORCE BIDEN TO PULL UN FUNDING IF PALESTINIAN RECOGNITION BYPASS SUCCEEDS, EXPERTS SAY

“The House has no choice but to impeach Biden based on the Trump-Ukraine precedent of withholding foreign aid to help with reelection,” he said.

“Only with Biden, it’s true.”

In Trump’s case, Democrats claimed it was “undisputed” that Trump asked Zelenskyy for a political favor in return for security assistance.

In opening remarks by Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., at a December 2019 impeachment inquiry hearing, he alleged Trump’s call with Zelenskyy was part of “concerted effort” to “solicit a personal advantage in the next election – this time, in the form of an investigation of his political adversaries by a foreign government.”

In an apparent response to Biden’s warning, Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, introduced the Immediate Support for Israel Act on Friday, which she said would force the administration to deliver aid and support passed by Congress.

“Weeks ago, Congress came together in a bipartisan manner to pass an aid package for Israel. In an unprecedented move, President Biden not only halted the shipment of aid but also unilaterally added conditions to that very same aid – defying Congressional intent. Israel is currently engaged in a war with a terrorist organization that is still holding over 100 civilian hostages. There is simply no excuse for this delay,” Van Duyne said in a statement obtained by Fox News.

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In a statement in Hebrew on the eve of Israeli Independence Day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone.”

“I have said that, if necessary, we will fight with our fingernails.”

Meanwhile, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who has been vocally critical of antisemitism on campus, responded to a clip of Biden’s CNN interview with the comment: “Crazy: This is one of the worst acts against an ally of a sitting president ever.”

“Hopefully, this means he won’t be sitting for much longer,” Ackman wrote on X.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Pence’s reaction.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram and Yonat Friling contributed to this report.

Democratic lawmakers are pushing President Biden to grant amnesty to undocumented migrants before they can be deported by a potential future Trump administration.

“We urge your Administration to take all available actions to streamline pathways to lawful status for undocumented immigrants, providing certainty to the American businesses, communities, and families who rely on them,” reads a letter to Biden on Wednesday that was signed by over 80 lawmakers.

The letter comes as the White House has continued to fight the ongoing border crisis, which has seen over 7 million illegal immigrants cross the border with the U.S. since Biden took office in 2021.

GOP BILL ADDING CITIZENSHIP QUESTION TO 2030 CENSUS PASSES HOUSE WITHOUT A SINGLE DEMOCRAT

While the administration has promised steps aimed at stemming the flow, the more than 80 lawmakers in the letter urged the president to instead look forward and hedge against the potential of a victory for former President Trump in November’s election, arguing the president needs to take concrete steps to protect the legal status of millions of undocumented migrants.

“Deporting all such individuals — as former President Donald Trump has threatened to do if reelected — would devastate the American economy and destroy American families,” the letter reads. “Alternatively, streamlining pathways for undocumented immigrants with no criminal history and deep ties to the United States to obtain parole or a lawful immigration status would provide stability to their families, require them to pay taxes, and to check in with the U.S. government regularly.” 

Among the steps the president should take is a streamlining of the process DACA recipients, those who entered the country illegally as children, can use to update their legal status, the lawmakers argue. Other steps include permitting the spouses of Americans to work while green card applications are pending and creating a process to grant parole to the undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens.

SANCTUARY CITY POLICE ARREST OVER 1K MIGRANTS FROM THIS COUNTRY AS RESIDENTS RAGE AGAINST DEM LEADERS

Trump has promised to deport millions of undocumented migrants if he regains the presidency next year, going so far as to say he would use the National Guard to help carry out the massive operation.

“If I thought things were getting out of control, I would have no problem using the military,” the former president said in an interview with Time magazine last month. “We have to have safety in our country. We have to have law and order in our country. And whichever gets us there, but I think the National Guard will do the job.”

The possibility of another Trump term has seemingly become more realistic in recent months, with a Wall Street Journal poll last month showing the former president with a lead in six out of the seven key battleground states.

Trump held a lead over Biden in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, the poll found, with only Wisconsin, where the president held a three-point lead, being the only outlier.

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That possibility has some lawmakers pushing the president for action now, with the letter concluding that doing so would “provide much needed relief for undocumented immigrants and the American businesses, families, and communities that rely upon them.”

Neither the White House nor the Biden campaign immediately responded to Fox News Digital requests for comment.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said President Biden’s recent threat to withhold munitions shipments to Israel was completely unexpected and probably “off script.”

Biden said in a Wednesday CNN interview that his administration will halt munitions shipments to Israel if the nation continues with plans to invade the city of Rafah.

“My reaction honestly was — ‘Wow, that is a complete turn from what I have been told even in, you know, recent hours,” Johnson told Politico in a Wednesday night interview. 

BIDEN VOWS TO WITHHOLD WEAPONS FROM ISRAEL IF NETANYAHU GOES FORWARD WITH RAFAH INVASION

“I mean, 24 hours ago it was confirmed to me by top administration officials that the policy’s very different than what he stated there,” he continued. “So I hope that’s a senior moment.”

The House Speaker said he was already troubled by reports that U.S. support to Israel could be delayed before Biden’s interview. He told Politico that Biden administration officials dismissed his concerns and said delays were occurring with prior tranches of weapons, not aid recently passed by the House.

Johnson speculated that Biden’s comments may have been a “senior moment” and at odds with the rest of the administration’s plans.

US LAW COULD FORCE BIDEN TO PULL UN FUNDING IF PALESTINIAN RECOGNITION BYPASS SUCCEEDS, EXPERTS SAY

“I believe he’s off script,” Johnson said. “I don’t think that’s something that staff told him to say. I hope it’s a senior moment, because that would be a great deviation in what is said to be the policy there.”

Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett in the Wednesday interview that civilian deaths in Gaza have given him pause on supplying weapons for the planned Rafah invasion.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” the president said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities — that deal with that problem,” Biden said.

Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

Former President Trump’s son is pushing back on President Biden after the Democrat brushed off concerns about the economy and claimed he inherited 9% inflation when he took office.

“What a clown,” Eric Trump wrote on X, sharing a report of Biden’s remarks.

Biden’s factually incorrect claim came during a rare interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday evening, when he was asked about low consumer confidence about the economy, including housing costs going up, real income adjusted for inflation going down, and weak economic growth since Biden took office.

“No president has had the run we’ve had in terms of creating jobs and bringing down inflation. It was 9% when I came to office — 9%,” the 81-year-old president said on Wednesday, when inflation was just 1.4% when he came into office in Jan. 2021. It grew to 9.1% in June 2022, 17 months later.

LIZ CHENEY JOINS OLD FOE TRUMP IN PUBLIC SLAM OF BIDEN’S LATEST MOVE IN ISRAEL: ‘WRONG AND DANGEROUS’

During Wednesday night’s interview, Biden dismissed polls showing voters disapprove of his handling of the economy and said these voters trust Trump more on the issue, claiming the polling was erroneous.

Biden also presented an idyllic view of the economy not shared by those polled.

When asked by Burnett about the current inflation and the extra costs for groceries that Americans have been forced to pay under his leadership, Biden insisted: “We’ve already turned it around.”

“When I started this administration, people were saying there’s gonna be a collapse in the economy. We have the strongest economy in the world. Let me say that again, in the world,” he added.

DAVID AXELROD PUMMELS BIDEN’S DEFIANT STANCE ON ECONOMY FOLLOWING CNN INTERVIEW: A ‘TERRIBLE MISTAKE’

The president then claimed Americans were “personally in good shape” economically.

A Gallup poll on the housing market, published on Thursday morning, suggests Biden was wrong about that too.

Americans expect home prices to rise and most see the current housing market as poor. According to the poll, 68% predict higher prices are still to come while 76% say it is a bad time to buy a house.

During the interview, Burnett pushed back and cited CNN polling data. In response, Biden wrote off the whole network.

“The polling data has been wrong all along. You guys do a poll at CNN, how many folks do you have to call to get one response?” he asked. “The idea that we’re in a situation where things are so bad.”

JON STEWART SAYS BIDEN ‘SHOULDN’T BE PRESIDENT’ DURING COMEDY SET: ‘WHY ARE WE ALLOWING THIS?’

He later conceded that inflation is “really worrisome to people,” but again touted his administration’s record on the economy.

Eric Trump is not the only one hitting back on Biden, as former Obama adviser and CNN political analyst David Axelrod also lambasted Biden’s defiant stance on the economy.

On Wednesday, Axelrod called it a “terrible mistake” and said it could cost him the upcoming election.

“It is absolutely true. The world was plunged into an economic crisis and America was plunged into an economic crisis by the pandemic and we’ve come back faster than almost any other country and he’s right about that. But that’s not the way people are experiencing the economy,” Axelrod told Burnett.

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“They’re experiencing it through the lens of the cost of living. And he is a man who’s built his career on empathy. Why not lead with the empathy?” he asked. Axelrod continued, “And I think he’s making a terrible mistake… If he doesn’t win this race, it may not be Donald Trump that beats him. It may be his own pride.”

Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Alexander Hall contributed to this report.

A Republican senator is renewing the call to impeach President Biden following reports of aid to Israel being delayed during its war with the terrorist organization Hamas. 

“The House has no choice but to impeach Biden based on the Trump-Ukraine precedent of withholding foreign aid to help with reelection. Only with Biden, it’s true,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote on X on Thursday. 

A recently passed $95 billion supplemental foreign aid package included roughly $26 billion for both Israel and humanitarian aid for areas including Gaza. The aid was encouraged by the Biden administration, which had proposed it nearly six months prior. 

Cotton suggested that Biden should be impeached for delaying an aid shipment to Israel, which he claimed had to do with the president’s re-election bid as he balances a divided Democratic Party on the Israel war. 

NPR CEO KATHERINE MAHER DECLINES HOUSE HEARING INVITE AMID BIAS SCANDAL

The White House Counsel’s office did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

Earlier this week, Israeli officials claimed the U.S. had paused a shipment of ammunition from the U.S., as Axios reported. 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre maintained that the U.S.’s commitment to Israel is “ironclad,” despite the report. 

FANI WILLIS SUGGESTS SHE WON’T TESTIFY IN ‘UNLAWFUL’ GEORGIA SENATE INVESTIGATION

The report was ultimately confirmed by a U.S. official, who said the administration paused shipments of two types of precision bombs to Israel. One shipment would provide 2,000-pound bombs, with 1,800 to be delivered. The second held 500-pound bombs, with 1,700 to be delivered. 

REPUBLICANS KEEP PRESSURE ON NPR AND CONTROVERSIAL CEO AMID POLITICAL BIAS SCANDAL

“The U.S. position has been that Israel should not launch a major ground operation in Rafah, where more than a million people are sheltering with nowhere else to go,” a U.S. official said. 

“We are especially focused on the end-use of the 2,000-lb bombs and the impact they could have in dense urban settings as we have seen in other parts of Gaza. We have not made a final determination on how to proceed with this shipment,” they added. 

Per the official, “None of these shipments have anything to do with the Israel supplemental appropriations passed last month. All are drawn from previously appropriated funds, some many years ago.”

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Biden drew a red line for ally Israel. “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,” he said. 

The White House did not immediately confirm the delayed shipment when prompted by Fox News Digital. 

FLIGHTS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WITHOUT IDS TARGETED IN FAA BILL AS DEADLINE LOOMS

The Democratic-led House’s impeachment of then-President Trump in 2019 indicted him on a charge of abuse of power, arguing he withheld aid to Ukraine while asking the country’s leader to investigate his political rivals, including Biden. The Senate acquitted Trump on the House’s charges. 

Cotton argued the same precedent should apply to Biden.

WHITE HOUSE LOOKS TO CONVINCE AMERICANS OF ‘BIDENOMICS’ WITH KAMALA HARRIS TOUR

Trump’s campaign did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

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Republicans in the House have appeared eager to impeach the president, heavily investigating Biden’s family’s business ties, particularly his son Hunter Biden. 

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

Fox News’ Liz Friden and Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report. 

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has made some questionable remarks regarding China in recent years, including applauding the country for allegedly using threats of prison or organ harvesting as a means to meet its green energy goals, according to unearthed comments reviewed by Fox News Digital. 

“They take this very seriously,” Kennedy said in 2014, speaking of China and its clean energy agreement that year. “I don’t know whether… the guy ends up in prison with his, you know, organs harvested or what. But they are very, very dead serious.”

Kennedy’s comments, made on “The Ring Of Fire” radio show in 2014, followed the Obama administration announcing in November of that year that it was aiming to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% by 2025 compared to 2005 levels. Simultaneously, China announced it was aiming to increase its non-fossil fuel share of all energy to around 20% by 2030, according to the White House press release at the time.

The green energy plans from the two nations were announced in the lead-up to the Paris climate agreement that was adopted by 195 nations in 2015. 

RFK JR SAID A WORM ATE PART OF HIS BRAIN AND DIED IN HIS HEAD

Kennedy pledged support for the Paris agreement in his remarks on the 2014 radio show, while lauding President Barack Obama for his climate policies. 

“Well, Obama’s really been extraordinary over the past couple months, as you said, he did the power plant rule, which for the first time will allow the EPA and the states to start regulating CO2,” Kennedy added in his radio show remarks. 

BIDEN RIVAL PROPOSES ‘NO-SPOILER PLEDGE’ IN ORDER TO TAKE ON TRUMP IN NOVEMBER

When asked how China would go about abiding by the agreement, which was non-binding, Kennedy relayed that the workload would be divided between China’s province governors, who would then order their government employees to enforce climate policies. If the government employees failed to carry out the mission, Kennedy speculated they could face jail time or even have their “organs harvested.” 

“The governor of that province is given his share, if there’s a national commitment like this one, the governor of that province is given his share of, you know, whatever his pro rata contribution to that advance he has to implement. He has to figure out a way to implement it within his province,” he said before noting the government officials take their jobs “very seriously” and reportedly aren’t above harming or imprisoning employees who fail. 

“They lose their jobs and they, you know, they get punished… and any kind of advancement they have gets stopped if they don’t fulfill these quotas. And China is already starting down this road. They’ve committed $175 billion to new solar,” he continued. 

Kennedy continued to laud China for its production of solar panels, which drove down prices across the world and “virtually” ended American manufacturing of solar panels. 

RFK JR. CHALLENGES TRUMP TO DEBATE AFTER ‘DEMOCRAT PLANT’ ACCUSATION

“They’re already manufacturing a surplus of solar panels that have flooded the rest of the world with solar panels. And… part of the sort of collateral effect of that is that all of our – the price of solar panels have dropped so low, that it put out of business virtually all the American manufacturers. But it’s created a whole industry in this country for solar installations,” he said. 

“When they [China] do it, it actually gets done,” he added. 

Kennedy, the son of late U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, announced his run for president last year as a Democrat, before switching and becoming an Independent candidate in October. The environmental lawyer has stayed in the race as members of the Democratic and Republican parties dropped out one by one this election season, with media and voter attention now focusing on former President Trump, President Biden and Kennedy. 

‘DISQUALIFYING’: RFK JR. FACES BACKLASH OVER ‘UNHINGED’ CLAIMS ABOUT RED STATES IN RESURFACED VIDEO

“All we need to do is get to 33% to win the election,” Kennedy told Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo last month on his program “World Over,” which airs on the EWTN Global Catholic Network.

“You don’t need 50%. It’s a three-way race – and it’s really a five-way race,” he added, alluding to independent candidate Dr. Cornel West and Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, who are also running for the White House.

A Quinnipiac poll released last month found Kennedy with 16% support overall, with Trump and Biden each at 37%.

Kennedy also made questionable remarks regarding China last year, arguing that the U.S. should “de-escalate” military tensions with the communist nation. The comments were slammed by experts, including a retired Army colonel, who called the remarks “dangerously naive.” 

“The Chinese cannot and do not want to compete with us militarily,” Kennedy told X owner Elon Musk in a discussion last year. “So it’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy that says, ‘Oh, the Chinese want to be our enemy and have a military competition,’ they don’t. What we should be doing is de-escalating military pressure on China.”

RFK, JR REVEALS PATH TO PRESIDENCY AS BIDEN, TRUMP CAMPAIGNS TARGET RACE ‘SPOILER’

He also argued that the U.S. should let Taiwan and China “work out that issue on their own” and that the U.S. should “back off militarily.” As war rages in Ukraine and then Israel, the world has braced for China potentially invading Taiwan, which operates as an independent country separate from China. 

“We think the world is on our side, but it isn’t. All we’ve got – the only people who are supporting this pugnacious, bellicose relationship with China are Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, Britain, Canada,” he continued in his remarks last year. “We’re pretty much alone in the world. The rest of the world is looking at us and saying, ‘What the heck are you doing? Why are you trying to create a war with China? Why are you fighting them over?'” 

WHO IS ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. AND WHY IS HE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT?

​​”They don’t want war, they want peace and they want prosperity, and that cannot happen where there’s a war,” he said. 

John Mills, a retired Army colonel slammed the remarks in a comment to the Epoch Times, saying Kennedy is “almost dangerously naive as to the malign behavior of China.”

“I’m a little puzzled by his comments,” Mills added. “He has strong opinions on the virus and the vaccine. Well, where does he think the virus came from? It’s kind of incongruent.”

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Kennedy’s campaign said Wednesday that the current policy with China is putting Taiwan at “greater risk,” but did not address the 2014 comments on “organ harvesting.”

“The experts are wrong. The current policy of confrontation with China is putting Taiwan at greater risk by making it a pawn in a geopolitical power game,” the campaign said. 

Fox News Digital’s Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report. 

Former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney has found common ground with former President Trump, who she previously voted to impeach, as they both oppose President Biden’s latest move in Israel.

On Wednesday, the anti-Trump Republican said withholding aid from America’s closest ally in the Middle East “wrong and dangerous.” The comment came just hours apart from Trump tweeting that Biden was helping the Hamas terror group and “taking the side of these terrorists.”

“Withholding aid to Israel is wrong and dangerous. America must not abandon Israel. Doing so would mean victory for Iran and all its terrorist allies,” she wrote.

Both Republicans chided Biden after he vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu goes forward with an invasion of Rafah, the last stronghold for Hamas in Gaza.

TRUMP RESPONDS TO JUDGE WHO THREATENED TO TOSS HIM IN JAIL OVER GAG ORDER: ‘GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH’

Cheney’s public criticism of Biden comes amid his re-election rematch with Trump, who has called Biden “weak” and said his foreign policies were “leading the world straight into World War III.”

In Trump’s own post, he reminded Biden about Hamas’ terror attack on Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, when 1,200 people were killed, making it the deadliest terror attack in Israel’s history.

BIDEN VOWS TO WITHHOLD WEAPONS FROM ISRAEL IF NETANYAHU GOES FORWARD WITH RAFAH INVASION

“Crooked Joe Biden, whether he knows it or not, just said he will withhold weapons from Israel as they fight to eradicate Hamas Terrorists in Gaza. Hamas murdered thousands of innocent civilians, including babies, and are still holding Americans hostage, if the hostages are still alive,” Trump wrote. “Yet Crooked Joe is taking the side of these terrorists, just like he has sided with the Radical Mobs taking over our college campuses, because his donors are funding them.”

He added: “Biden is weak, corrupt, and leading the world straight into World War III. Remember – this war in Israel, just like the war in Ukraine, would have NEVER started if I was in the White House. But very soon, we will be back, and once again demanding peace through strength!”

WITH CHENEY OUT, TRUMP HAS PURGED MOST PRO-IMPEACHMENT HOUSE REPUBLICANS FROM GOP

Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, was an ally of Trump’s at times when he was in office and ascended to chair of the House Republican Conference.

She then vehemently opposed him after Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 election. She further angered Republicans when she joined the Jan. 6 House Select Committee that investigated the events surrounding the 2021 Capitol riot.

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Upon the Jan. 6 committee, Cheney recommended and ultimately voted to impeach Trump.

As a result, she was defeated in a landslide in her GOP primary race for Wyoming’s at-large congressional seat in 2022.

Florida’s equivalent of a state treasurer wrote a letter to former President Trump, urging him to recoup an estimated $54,000 through the state’s unclaimed property program to help defend against the “very, very nasty people” coming after him.

Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis told Trump in the letter that the state is proud to host several Trump properties and count him as a resident and that he admires the real estate mogul as a former small business owner for his attention to the customer.

Patronis said he conducted a search of the state’s public unclaimed property program’s database and found several assets the former president, his family members or his businesses could reclaim. He urged Trump to take action so that the former president can further fund his legal defenses in the multiple ongoing court cases he is facing.

The independently elected state official lambasted the prosecutions of the former president, offering to help personally process unclaimed property requests through his office’s fltreasurehunt.gov portal.

NEW POLL SHOWS WHAT VOTERS THINK WILL HAPPEN IN NY V TRUMP

“There are some very, very nasty people coming after you, and every dollar matters in your efforts to fight back against these radical state attorneys who have weaponized the courts,” Patronis wrote.

“We need you and your team to have every resource possible to get through these BS charges so you can get back to work in Making America Great Again.”

He defined “unclaimed property” as financial assets that are unknown, lost, inactive or abandoned, saying that the most common examples are dormant bank accounts or stocks and dividends. Typically, the property is held by the disbursing entity for several years before being handed over to the state.

TRUMP’S VISIT TO WORKING-CLASS PA TOWN EVOKES FOND MEMORIES, BUSINESSES SAY: ‘MORE MONEY IN OUR POCKETS’

The official also thanked Trump for his contributions to Florida and the nation writ-large, adding that he hopes to hear back from the former president on the matter.

A search by Fox News Digital of the Florida Department of Financial Services web portal returned one result for the Trump Organization totaling $3,000 in cashiers checks from JPMorganChase, and Trump’s name revealed nearly $10,000 in assets divided between an address in Volusia County, an address abutting the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, and an unstated address.

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There were also several entries under the name Ivana Trump, the former president’s late ex-wife, as well as many others under the names of Trump’s various properties, such as Trump National Doral as well as a resort in Sunny Isles Beach, upon which his name is licensed.

The former president faces several lawsuits against him, including in New York, Atlanta and South Florida, all of which he has characterized as “witch hunts” brought upon him through the machinations of President Biden.

He has also been held in contempt of court and fined $1,000 for each of 10 gag order violations by Judge Juan Merchan in the ongoing NY v. Trump trial.

Patronis’ office told Fox News Digital it has returned $34 million in unclaimed property in April alone and $2.4 billion since Patronis was elected in 2017.

Barron Trump, the youngest child of former President Trump is set to enter the political fray for the first time. 

The 18-year-old was picked by the Republican Party of Florida on Wednesday night as one of the state’s at-large delegates to the Republican National Convention, according to a copy of the results. 

Republican Party of Florida chairman Evan Power said the 18-year-old high school senior will serve as one of 41 at-large delegates from Florida to the national gathering, where the GOP is set to officially nominate his father as its presidential candidate for the November general election. 

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

Up until now, Barron Trump has stayed out of the political and public spotlight as he focused on his studies. His name was thrust into the public sphere recently after concerns were raised by his father that he may not be able to attend his son’s graduation due to his ongoing “hush money” trial in New York City. 

However, the judge overseeing the trial said there would be no court on May 17 so that Trump could attend his son’s graduation.

Barron Trump attends a private high school near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in south Florida. 

TRUMP SHOULD RISK ARREST AND ATTEND SON’S GRADUATION, PIERS MORGAN SAYS, FORCE DEMS INTO ‘POLITICAL SUICIDE’

He is the only child the former president and his wife, former First Lady Melania Trump share together. 

Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Trump’s youngest daughter, Tiffany, are also part of the Florida delegation to the convention taking place in Milwaukee from July 15 to July 18.

Eric Trump was selected as delegation chair, meaning he will place his father’s name in for the nomination.

A campaign official told ABC News that Barron “is very interested in our nation’s political process.”

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“We are fortunate to have a great group of grassroots leaders, elected officials, and members of the Trump family working together as part of the Florida delegation to the 2024 Republican National Convention,” Power said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press.

The former president officially became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee on March 12 when Georgia, Mississippi and Washington state held primaries. He called it a “really great day of victory” in a video message to supporters.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: President Biden is getting a boost from a major group of former medical officials who say they are concerned about the “threat” former President Trump poses to public health.

The group of 48 individuals is led by Dr. Andrew Gurman, former president of the American Medical Association (AMA), and includes six other former AMA presidents, a former U.S. surgeon general, four former acting surgeons general, a number of other former deputy and assistant surgeons general and former representatives of the American College of Physicians.

“We write today as people who have dedicated our lives to helping people. As former leaders of national health care and delivery organizations, we have come to understand how policy can impact public health and, just as importantly, the ability of American families to afford the healthcare they need,” the group wrote in a letter addressed to the American People and shared exclusively with Fox News Digital.

WATCH: DEM GOVERNOR SWARMED BY ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS WHILE CELEBRATING DAUGHTER’S COLLEGE GRADUATION

“If he is elected president, Donald Trump will make our fears a reality. The price of healthcare for American families under Trump would skyrocket, while millions would lose access to healthcare altogether. While his specific policies are at best ambiguous, his track record and his words make clear the damage he would do.

“We therefore encourage anyone concerned about the price, availability, and safety of healthcare to keep Mr. Trump out of the White House,” they added.

The group argued that because of Trump’s “ambiguity” concerning health care policy, all they could do was “surmise” how the former president might proceed based on his record in office and his remarks on the campaign trail.

WATCH: DEM SENATE CANDIDATE CAUGHT ON VIDEO SCREAMING AT REPORTER OVER CONTROVERSIAL POLICE REMARK

They described what they foresee as “troubling,” including Trump’s expressed desire to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Additionally, the group argued Trump would cut funds from the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), eliminate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), cut funding for veterans’ health care and try to further restrict abortions.

“I am concerned that, based upon what I saw during the Trump presidency and what I have heard him say during the campaign, that returning Mr. Trump to the Oval Office could have real and negative effects on the health of our country,” Gurman told Fox News Digital ahead of the letter’s release.

“I am concerned that millions might lose access to health care altogether, and that for the rest it might well become much more expensive. I think that people need to hear those concerns, and that’s why I signed the letter.”

Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler reacted to the letter by telling Fox News Digital “every chance Trump got while in office, he made it his mission to rip health care away from working families.”

“Pushing to ‘terminate’ the Affordable Care Act is just the start for Trump if he’s re-elected. He’s now running to go even further. A second Trump presidency would mean the American people would risk getting sicker, going broke, both or worse with soaring prescription drug costs, the elimination of protections for patients with preexisting conditions and wins for Big Pharma at the expense of working families,” he said. 

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“This November, voters will send President Biden back to the White House because he is the candidate who won’t just protect our health care, but will do everything he can to lower costs and improve our health care.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment and a Trump spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, said the claims were false.

“These claims are outright lies. While President Trump is running to make less expensive healthcare options available for people without eliminating the Affordable Care Act, Joe Biden is destroying Obamacare and the entire healthcare system with his open borders invasion,” said Leavitt. “It was recently announced that Joe Biden is giving free government healthcare to illegal aliens. Every penny of this will be funded by American citizens, taken out of their paychecks and wallets. It will mean higher taxes, higher premiums, higher deductibles, and longer wait times to see a doctor. And it will mean the border invasion Biden launched will become even larger as the world floods over in search of free government benefits. This is all part of Biden’s war on the working class. Day 1 of a Trump Administration we will seal the border, deport the illegals and cut off their government benefits.”

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

The unprecedented criminal trial of former President Trump resumes Thursday morning with continued cross-examination of adult film actress Stormy Daniels after the 2024 presumptive presidential nominee and his attorneys were denied in their motion for a mistrial amid her salacious and “unnecessary” testimony. 

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges stem from a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

The charges are related to alleged payments made ahead of the 2016 presidential election to silence Daniels about an alleged 2006 extramarital affair with Trump.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg must convince the jury that, not only did Trump falsify business records related to alleged hush money payments, he did so in furtherance of another crime — conspiracy to promote or prevent election, which would be a felony. 

TOP 5 MOMENTS OF TRUMP TRIAL AFTER ‘SALACIOUS’ STORMY DANIELS TESTIMONY

On their own, falsifying business records and conspiracy to promote or prevent election are misdemeanor charges. 

The continued questioning of Daniels will come from Trump defense attorneys, who began their cross-examination of the adult film actress, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, Tuesday. 

It is unclear if prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office will continue questioning with a redirect. 

On Tuesday, Daniels testified she met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in July 2006 in Lake Tahoe and described the meeting as a “very brief encounter.” 

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked what Daniels discussed with Trump. Daniels said it wasn’t very much, and that she was introduced as a director of pornographic films. 

NY V TRUMP: JUDGE DENIES MOTION FOR MISTRIAL AMID STORMY DANIELS TESTIMONY

After that, Daniels said, someone asked her if she wanted to have dinner with Trump. She testified that she discussed the invitation to dinner with her publicist, recalling that he said she should attend, implying it would be good for her career. 

Daniels then testified in detail about the alleged sexual encounter with Trump in a hotel room. 

Trump has denied allegations of a sexual encounter with Daniels. Daniels, in 2018, initially denied that a sexual encounter took place but later changed her story. 

During her lewd testimony, Judge Juan Merchan said “the degree of detail we’re going into is unnecessary” and asked prosecutor Hoffinger to move questioning along. 

BRAGG PROSECUTOR LEADING STORMY DANIELS QUESTIONING IN TRUMP TRIAL DONATED TO JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRATS

Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche blasted Daniels’ testimony as “prejudicial” and motioned for a mistrial. 

Merchan said a mistrial was not warranted but admitted he was doing everything he could to control the witness, including once objecting to Daniels’ testimony himself. 

“I agree that it would have been better if some of these things had been left unsaid,” Merchan said. 

Blanche argued that the prosecution is trying to inflame the jury with Daniels’ testimony, including with evidence that he said is irrelevant. 

Blanche said it is prejudicial testimony and evidence, saying Daniels has been trying to sell her story about an alleged consensual sexual encounter since 2016. 

Blanche said Daniels’ testimony on Tuesday was about “consent and danger” and that was “not the story that she was selling in 2016.” 

NY V TRUMP: JUDGE THREATENS JAIL TIME FOR ‘POSSIBLY THE NEXT PRESIDENT’ FOR FUTURE GAG ORDER VIOLATIONS

He also said Daniels was testifying about consent and said that kind of testimony “makes it impossible to come back from.” 

Blanche said the defense “objected as best we could, but she was able to say what she said.” 

He also questioned how the defense could “come back from this” in a way that could be “fair” to Trump. 

“We believe there should be a mistrial,” he said, “or that this witness’s testimony is excluded and extremely limited.”

Blanche said Daniels’ lurid and explosive testimony “has nothing to do with this case” and is “totally irrelevant.”

He also noted that what Daniels said was “extraordinarily prejudicial testimony” and that there is a “high risk of the jury not being able to focus on the charged conduct.”

But Hoffinger said the defense was fully briefed on Daniels’ testimony in the motions prior to trial and argued that Daniels’ testimony was probative to Trump’s intent. Hoffinger said the defense is attacking Daniels’ credibility and argued there is “no basis for this.”

Fox News Digital first reported Tuesday that Hoffinger, the prosecutor leading Bragg’s questioning of Daniels, donated to Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. 

NY V. TRUMP: MAYOR ADAMS SAYS RIKERS ISLAND IS ‘PREPARED’ IF TRUMP IS SENTENCED TO JAIL

During a break, the former president and 2024 Republican presumptive presidential nominee posted to his Truth Social account without naming Daniels.

“THE PROSECUTION, WHICH HAS NO CASE, HAS GONE TOO FAR,” he posted. “MISTRIAL!”

During the beginning of cross-examination by Trump defense attorney Susan Necheles, Daniels admitted, for the first time, that she wanted to share her allegations about an affair with Trump to “get the story out and make some money.” 

She was ultimately paid $130,000 by ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen. 

After hours of listening to Daniels make salacious allegations on the stand about an alleged sexual encounter, which he has denied, Trump spoke to reporters outside the courtroom.

Merchan imposed a gag order on the former president, an order he has ruled Trump to have violated at least 10 times. 

Trump is barred from speaking about witnesses with regard to their potential participation or about counsel in the case – other than Bragg – or about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff.

On Monday, Trump was fined another $1,000, bringing the total to $10,000 in gag order violation fines.

Merchan threatened Trump with jail time if he violates the order in the future.

“The last thing I want to consider is jail,” Merchan said Monday. “You are [the] former president and possibly the next president.” 

Trump, after Daniels’ testimony, followed the gag order and did not mention Stormy Daniels by name or reference her testimony. 

“This was a very big day, a very revealing day as you’ll see their case is totally falling apart,” Trump said.

“They have nothing on books and records and even something that should bear very little relationship to the case is just a disaster … for the Soros-backed DA,” he continued.

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“This whole case is just a disaster,” Trump said.

Trump lamented the trial is preventing him, the presumptive GOP nominee for the 2024 presidential election, from being on the campaign trail.

“I’m stuck. I’m here instead of being in Georgia, instead of being in New Hampshire, instead of being in Wisconsin and all the different states that we wanted to be, and we’re not able to be there because we’re stuck in this trial, which everyone knows is a hoax,” he said.

Throughout his career, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made controversial, inflammatory and sometimes untrue statements that have ticked off folks on the left and right.

Whether he’s declaring you’re more likely to be murdered in red states or waging his anti-vaccine crusade, the senator’s son is conducting something of an oddball campaign.

Yet with his magic last name, which undoubtedly makes some voters think he’s still a Democrat, he’s polling at about 8 to 10%. That, if it holds up, puts him into serious spoiler territory.

But now it turns out that Kennedy has been hiding serious medical conditions.

STORMY ALLEGES ONE-NIGHT STAND WITH TRUMP, AGREED TO LIE FOR HER $130,000 PAYOFF

When I first saw the New York Times headline on this, I assumed the independent candidate was belatedly disclosing these problems. Nope, not at all. The story was based on digging by reporter Susanne Craig.

Based on a deposition from 2012, RFK Jr. was called by a doctor at New York-Presbyterian Hospital after physicians had noticed a dark spot on his brain scans, and he had complained of memory loss and a mental fogginess. This doctor said he believed Kennedy had a dead parasite in his head.

The abnormality, RFK recalled the doctor telling him, “was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died.”

I don’t know about you, but I’d like to know whether a presidential candidate had part of his brain eaten by a worm.

It’s a stunning bit of information, deeply unsettling, and obviously subject to mockery. He told the Times months ago that he had recovered from the memory loss without treatment.

The cavalier failure to disclose this, and other ailments, raises disturbing questions about hiding health issues from the public.

RFK had contacted some of the same neurologists who had treated or spoken to his uncle, Ted Kennedy, before he died of brain cancer the previous year.

There’s more. Not only has RFK suffered from atrial fibrillation for decades, he’s been hospitalized four times for the irregular heartbeat. He told the Times in that earlier interview that he hasn’t had an A-fib incident for more than 10 years.

BIDEN TAKES ROLE AS BYSTANDER ON BORDER AND CAMPUS PROTESTS, SURRENDERS THE BULLY PULPIT

And Kennedy has also been diagnosed with mercury poisoning. He blamed that on eating too much fish tainted by the metal. That, too, can cause serious neurological issues.

This should not be a one-day story. No one should interview RFK without bringing up the failure to disclose these serious medical problems. 

The Kennedy campaign refused to release his medical records. Unfortunately, the Joe Biden and Donald Trump teams have done the same during this campaign.

The paper notes that RFK goes out of his way to project a vigorous image, skiing with an Olympic gold medalist and lifting weights shirtless. Good for him. But perhaps that masks his real condition.

A spokeswoman for Kennedy, 70, asked if his health problems might make him unfit for office, said “that is a hilarious suggestion, given the competition” – an obvious shot at the 81-year-old Biden and 77-year-old Trump.

RFK JR RE-UPS TRUMP DEBATE CHALLENGE, SUGGESTING VENUE IN ‘PERFECT NEUTRAL TERRITORY’

Some past presidents have hidden serious medical problems, including JFK, who suffered from Addison’s disease, or malfunctioning adrenal glands that produce vital hormones, and debilitating back pain that initially kept him out of the military. But standards have changed and more candor is expected from candidates.

The only reason we know about his nephew’s problems is the deposition that came during his divorce from his second wife. RFK was arguing that his earning ability had declined because of his cognitive problems.

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The question: Is this sort of subterfuge acceptable from a major candidate?

Footnote: Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s running mate and a tech entrepreneur picked to help finance the campaign, hasn’t done any interviews since she was tapped. Does this amount to the same kind of secrecy?

A possible Biden administration plan to begin allowing refugees from Gaza into the U.S. has faced significant pushback, with critics calling attention to potential national security risks.

“We demand that your administration cease planning for accepting Gazan refugees until you adequately answer our concerns and focus your attention instead on securing the release of U.S. hostages held by Hamas,” read a letter to President Biden signed by 36 Republican senators last week.

The letter came after CBS News reported that the Biden administration was considering multiple plans to bring Gazan refugees to the U.S., with senior officials discussing the possibility of accepting refugees who have immediate family members already in the U.S., according to documents reviewed by the outlet.

One of the proposals floated by the administration involves using the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to bring people who have connections to the U.S. to the country after they escape the war-torn area through neighboring Egypt. Another proposal calls for the U.S. to consider welcoming people out of Gaza and processing them as refugees if they have American relatives.

WHITE HOUSE CONSIDERS ACCEPTING SOME PALESTINIANS FROM GAZA AS REFUGEES AMID ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Any refugees from Gaza would have to pass a series of medical and security screenings, with those who are eligible being flown to the U.S. with refugee status.

But doubts remain about just how well the U.S. would be able to screen individuals from the war-torn area, raising concerns about the national security implications of such a program.

“One wonders how well thought through such a plan is and how it is good for us,” William Ruger, a Trump administration nominee for ambassador to Afghanistan and president of the American Institute for Economic Research, told Fox News Digital. “Who’s going to do the vetting? Who’s going to pay? What will be the consequences here at home? Is the U.S. meant to deal with and pay for the consequences of the decisions that other actors make in the world simply because we are a powerful country?”

Curt Mills, the executive director of The American Conservative, shared similar concerns, telling Fox News Digital that allowing in refugees from Gaza would cause “a horrendous amount of problems.”

“It would be impossible,” Mills said when asked if refugees from Gaza could be properly vetted. “We just do not know, writ large, what level of commitment or understanding most of the people that come into the United States at these levels have to the American project.”

WHY MIDEAST NEIGHBORS WON’T OFFER REFUGE TO PALESTINIANS STUCK IN GAZA WAR ZONE

Meanwhile, some critics have pointed to the public support Hamas enjoys among many Gazans. Writing in the New York Post, Center for Immigration Studies senior national security fellow Todd Bensman pointed to polling that showed a majority of Gazans support the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Bensman also argued that many in Gaza have “long viewed” the U.S. as an enemy, pointing to a 2013 poll that showed 76% of the population view the U.S. as more of an enemy.

“I do not think it’s possible to sufficiently vet most Gazans, even children, who are thoroughly saturated, marinated, indoctrinated, from school, mosque, and summer camp, parents and family, the doctrines of hatred and killing,” Bensman told Fox News Digital.

Bensman also questioned why the U.S. should be the country responsible for taking in Gazan refugees, arguing that there are plenty of other countries in the region that are “perfectly equipped to take on more refugees.”

The 36 Republican senators hit on similar themes in their letter to Biden, warning of the dangers that the possibility of “terrorists entering our homeland is no hypothetical matter.”

“With more than a third of Gazans supporting the Hamas militants, we are not confident that your administration can adequately vet this high-risk population for terrorist ties and sympathies before admitting them into the United States,” the senators wrote. 

URBAN WARFARE EXPERT SAYS ISRAELI MILITARY TAKING UNPRECEDENTED STEPS TO PROTECT GAZA CIVILIANS

Lisa Daftari, the editor-in-chief of the Foreign Desk and a terrorism expert, told Fox News Digital that any plan to bring Gazans to the U.S. as refugees would have to “be done lawfully and with due process.”

“It seems the Biden administration has employed a ‘make-it-up-as-you-go-along’ foreign policy in dealing with fallout from the Gaza/Israel war,” Daftari said. 

Daftari argued that “there are many issues” the White House would have to consider with such a policy, adding that “the main one is concerning U.S. national security.”

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 “The challenge in allowing these individuals into the country is that it is impossible to have proper vetting,” Daftari said. “The mess at our southern border should serve as the cautionary tale, as to date, Border Patrol has encountered over 200 individuals whose names have appeared on the national terror watchlist, and that is not taking into account the dozens or more who have evaded authorities and are currently in this country.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

The House of Representatives squashed an effort by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., to force a House-wide vote on Speaker Mike Johnson’s, R-La., ouster.

Greene appeared to catch most congressional watchers by surprise when she moved to force a vote on her motion to vacate the chair, the procedural move that would allow for the vote. She noticed her resolution as “privileged,” meaning House leaders had two legislative days to take it up.

But her bluff was called immediately when House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., rose to call for a vote on tabling Greene’s motion — which effectively kills it before the vote on Johnson’s ouster itself.

Johnson got overwhelming Democratic and Republican support for the table vote, which passed 359 to 43, averting a vote on her motion. Just 11 Republicans voted against tabling the measure, along with 32 Democrats.

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE FILES MOTION TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON

On the Republican side, Johnson won the support of 196 members, while 163 Democrats also voted to shield him.

The House GOP side of the chamber erupted in cheers when her move was squashed.

“I want to say that I appreciate the show of confidence from my colleagues to defeat this misguided effort. That is certainly what it was,” Johnson told reporters after the vote. “I’ve said from the beginning, and I’ve made clear here every day, I intend to do my job. I intend to do what I believe to be the right thing, which is what I was elected to do. And I’ll let the chips fall where they may.”

Greene declined to say if she planned to force another vote, but accused Johnson of being aligned with Democrats after they helped save his job.

“That’s not something that I’ve said,” she said when asked if she would try a repeat. “I think today it has proven the uniparty is alive as well. And the Democrats now control Speaker Johnson. That was something that everybody suspected all along. They just voted to save him. And I think that’s the message.”

Greene has been threatening to force a vote on taking Johnson’s gavel since late March in protest of his handling of government funding and foreign aid.

Her resolution, known as a motion to vacate the chair, will now have to be voted on or tabled after Greene noticed it as “privileged” on Wednesday night — meaning House leaders have two legislative days to take it up.

The Republican side of the House chamber erupted in boos as Greene listed off her gripes against Johnson, prompting Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., to shout, “The House is not in order — and is about to fall into chaos,” prompting some sparse laughs from their side of the chamber.

The vote is expected to be close but ultimately fail, with both Republicans and Democrats voicing opposition to a move that would effectively paralyze Congress until a new speaker is found.

The vote is a culmination of six months’ worth of frustration from the most right-wing conservatives in Johnson’s conference, who have felt sidelined by him on nearly all critical legislation including foreign aid and government funding, during which they demanded he leverage a government shutdown to force the Democrats who controlled the Senate and White House to pass Republican policies.

HOUSE DEMS SAY THEY’LL BLOCK MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE FROM OUSTING SPEAKER JOHNSON

Greene’s push got two more backers in Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., after Johnson ushered a foreign aid bill along bipartisan lines that includes $61 billion for Ukraine.

But it’s largely fallen flat among the House GOP, where even Johnson’s critics have shown little appetite for going through another three weeks of chaos like what followed the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in October — particularly six months out from an election.

With just a razor-thin majority of two seats, it would take little dissent for Johnson to lose the top House job if it fell along party lines. Eight House Republicans had voted with all Democrats to oust McCarthy in early October. 

Unlike McCarthy’s case, however, House Democrats have pledged to come to Johnson’s aid by voting to table the resolution if it came up — a vote to table a measure, which essentially kills it, is a procedural hurdle that allows Democrats to block Johnson’s ouster without having to actually vote on whether to fire him.

Johnson’s critics seized on the left-wing support as evidence that the Louisiana Republican was not representing the interests of his own party.

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE CALLS JOHNSON’S FOREIGN AID PACKAGE HIS ‘3RD BETRAYAL’ OF AMERICAN PEOPLE

“The entire Democrat Party is lining up behind Mike Johnson. First, it was the entire leadership team for the Democrats. Now, Nancy Pelosi, who impeached President Trump TWICE, has given Johnson her seal of approval. What deal has been made??” Greene wrote on X on Monday, along with a video of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., backing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ decision to help Johnson.

The move could save Johnson’s job, but could also cost him some Republican support.

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Massie told Fox News Digital last week when asked about how much GOP backing he expected, “I think it’s a kinetic situation. And Hakeem and the entire Democrat leadership team endorsing Mike Johnson is going to cause a lot of people who weren’t with us, to be with us.”

Johnson, for his part, has repeatedly told reporters that he’s not afraid of Greene’s threats and has insisted his focus is on governing.

With the Georgia Appeals Court decision to hear former President Donald Trump’s bid to have Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis disqualified from the case against him, some legal experts say there is little to no chance the case will go to trial before the November election as Willis had hoped. 

On Wednesday, the appeals court agreed to hear arguments by lawyers for Trump and co-defendants in the sweeping racketeering case related to the 2020 election. They argue Willis had an “improper” affair with a subordinate lawyer on her team and should be disqualified. 

Judge Scott McAfee ruled in March that Willlis’ affair gave her team an “appearance of impropriety” and said special prosector Nathan Wade needed to be removed or Willis should step down. Wade resigned shortly following that ruling. 

But Trump and his co-defendants appealed that decision, which will now go before the Court of Appeals. John Malcolm, a former assistant U.S. Attorney in Atlanta, said there’s “not a chance” Trump’s Georgia election interference case will go to trial before November. 

GEORGIA COURT OF APPEALS TO REVIEW TRUMP’S BID TO DISQUALIFY DA FANI WILLIS

“Although the odds of the Georgia case coming to trial quickly were never very good, now that the Georgia Court of Appeals has agreed to consider the recusal issue, there is not a chance the Georgia case is going to go to trial before the November election,” Malcolm told Fox News Digital. 

“There are still lots of pending motions that Judge McAfee will have to consider once (or if) the case is returned to him for further proceedings,” Malcolm noted. He added that the U.S. Supreme Court’s pending decision in the Trump immunity case may have an impact on some of the charges that Willis’ office has brought against the former president.

Malcolm added that “by dramatically overcharging this case and by engaging in an interoffice romance with a prosecutor whom she appointed, Fani Willis has no one but herself to blame for the predicament she is in.” 

FANI WILLIS SUGGESTS SHE WON’T TESTIFY IN ‘UNLAWFUL’ GEORGIA SENATE INVESTIGATION

Georgia State University law professor Anthony Kreis told Fox News in an interview that, according to the court’s rules, the appeals court has to hear and decide a case within two terms. 

“Now that’s a long period of time. We’re basically looking into early 2025 potentially if the court puts it at the end of its docket,” Kreis said. “The Court of Appeals is a pretty busy court. And so, you know, maybe they want to take the [case] sooner, maybe they don’t.” 

Kreis explained that it’s not guaranteed the appeals court will hold oral arguments in the case and could just decide it based on briefings by both parties.

The earliest the appeals court could hear the case is August of this year. 

JUDGE DISMISSES SOME COUNTS AGAINST TRUMP IN FANI WILLIS ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE

John Shu, a constitutional law expert who served in both the George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush administrations, observed that “the Court of Appeals process will take weeks, and then whichever party loses the interlocutory appeal likely will file a certiorari petition to the Georgia Supreme Court, which, if they grant it, probably would take the process well into November.”

“This mess definitely is of DA Willis’ own making,” Shu added.

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

Homeless people who camp on public property in Portland, Oregon, and reject offers of shelter could be fined up to $100 or sentenced to up to seven days in jail under new rules approved unanimously by the City Council on Wednesday.

When shelter is not available, the same penalties apply for blocking sidewalks, using gas heaters or starting fires, or having belongings more than 2 feet (0.6 meters) outside of tents.

CRISIS IN THE NORTHWEST: CITY’S BATTLE AGAINST HOMELESSNESS COULD HAVE DIRE EFFECTS FOR THE NATION

The ordinance takes effect immediately, and enforcement is set to begin in the coming weeks, Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office said.

“Addressing the issue of unsheltered homelessness in our city is a complex and urgent matter, and I believe this ordinance represents a significant step forward in our ongoing efforts to manage public spaces effectively,” Wheeler said in a statement.

Those who accept offers of shelter won’t be cited, according to Wheeler’s office. For those who are cited, the courts will determine whether to waive fines. The ordinance says it encourages diverting people to assessment, emergency shelter or housing instead of jail.

The mayor’s office said the new rules seek to comply with a state law that requires cities to have “objectively reasonable” restrictions on when, where and how people camp in public. A previous, stricter version of the ordinance that banned camping during daylight hours, at risk of fines or jail time, has been put on hold by a judge as a lawsuit challenging the measure filed by advocates on behalf of homeless people makes its way through the courts.

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The measure comes as Portland and other cities across the U.S. West struggle to address a growing number of homeless encampments. Many officials say they need to be able to manage encampments to keep streets safe and sanitary, while advocacy groups say people shouldn’t be criminally punished for lacking housing.

The U.S. Supreme Court, after hearing a case brought by the small Oregon town of Grants Pass, is weighing whether cities can punish people for sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking. It’s the most significant case before the high court in decades on the issue and comes amid record homelessness nationwide.