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The Biden administration declined to list the gray wolf as endangered throughout much of the West, a move that would have granted the species sweeping federal protections in the region and which environmental activists have long advocated for.

In an announcement Friday, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a “not warranted” finding for two petitions to list gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the Northern Rocky Mountains and the Western United States. The agency said it had conducted an analysis concluding that the species is not at risk of extinction in the West now or in the foreseeable future.

“Today’s announcement fails to alleviate the concerns of the millions of Americans impacted by an unchecked gray wolf population,” Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., said in a statement. “The fact that Americans have to worry about ESA rulings impacting their lives and livelihoods time and time again is illustrative of a broken system that allows bureaucrats to make decisions without local community input.”

“We know the Endangered Species Act is in desperate need of scientific reform, and congressional Republicans have been working to make these changes a reality,” he said. “Despite today’s announcement, it remains clear that the gray wolf is a recovered species, and its management should be transferred over to the states. It’s time for the federal government to get out of the way and let states and local communities manage the habitats and wildlife they know best.”

LOCAL RESIDENTS EXPLODE AT BIDEN OFFICIALS OVER PLAN TO RELEASE GRIZZLY BEARS NEAR THEIR COMMUNITIES

On Thursday, Westerman led an effort joined by eight fellow GOP lawmakers to probe FWS over its ongoing National Dialogue Around Working Landscapes and Gray Wolves and Thriving Communities and Cultures. He and the other Republicans expressed concern that the agency would list the species in the Northern Rockies ecosystem despite evidence indicating that gray wolf populations have recovered.

The federal action taken Friday comes in response to an emergency petition filed in May 2021 by several environmental groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity. The groups sought to have the gray wolf relisted under the ESA to nullify state laws in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming from allowing residents to kill the species.

BIDEN ADMIN PLAN TO RELEASE PREDATOR NEAR RURAL COMMUNITIES FACES WIDESPREAD OPPOSITION: ‘A HUGE THREAT’

“I’m incredibly disappointed that the Fish and Wildlife Service is turning a blind eye to the cruel, aggressive wolf-killing laws in Montana and Idaho,” Kristine Akland, the northern Rockies program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “By denying protections to these beautiful creatures the Service is letting northern Rockies states continue erasing decades of recovery efforts.”

“Today’s announcement tragically undermines the important restoration of gray wolf populations in suitable areas in the U.S.,” added Jamie Rappaport Clark, the president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife. “Since wolves lost federal protections, unsustainable and cruel hunting regulations championed by anti-wildlife politicians and policymakers are condemning wolves to being recklessly pursued and killed throughout the Northern Rockies.”

House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said Friday that the FWS action “ignores the existential threat” posed by state laws allowing the killing of wolves.

BIDEN SIGNS BILL INTO LAW THAT REVERSES HIS ADMIN’S DEFUNDING OF SCHOOL HUNTING, SHOOTING PROGRAMS

As a result of a 2011 bill delisting the gray wolf that was passed by Congress, Western states have removed protections for gray wolves and issued management plans calling for the species’ population to be reduced. Montana, one of those states, has argued in favor of ensuring the long-term survival of wolves while responsibly managing the population to prevent conflicts with livestock and humans.

Industry associations like the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which represents cattle ranchers, and the American Farm Bureau Federation, which represents farmers, have argued in favor of delisting the gray wolf.

In 2020, the Trump administration declared the species fully recovered in the U.S. and delisted it from the ESA. Two years later, a federal district court reinstated the ESA protections in the lower 48 states, a decision that did not impact the species’ status as delisted in the Northern Rockies ecosystem.

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“After more than 45 years as a listed species, the Gray Wolf has exceeded all conservation goals for recovery,” former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in 2020. “Today’s announcement simply reflects the determination that this species is neither a threatened nor endangered species based on the specific factors Congress has laid out in the law.” 

House Republicans are aiming to tee up debate and a floor vote next week to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

As of this Friday, the House Rules Committee has not officially put impeachment on its schedule for Monday. But Fox is told that that could happen over the weekend if Republicans are satisfied with the whip count on impeachment. At this stage, the Rules Committee is only slated to prep a health care bill for the floor at its meeting Monday. The two impeachment articles must go to the Rules Committee before heading to the floor.

If the Rules Committee prepares the articles of impeachment on Monday, the full House could debate and vote on impeaching Mayorkas as early as Tuesday. If the Rules Committee meeting slips to Tuesday, then floor action on Mayorkas will likely shift to Wednesday. 

And even if the Rules Committee convenes on Mayorkas, the House won’t necessarily need to bring those articles of impeachment to the floor right away if the GOP brass is concerned about the vote count. 

MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT ARTICLES APPROVED BY COMMITTEE, SETTING UP FULL HOUSE VOTE

The decision to go to the floor is about the math. 

Rep. Brian Higgins, D-N.Y., resigns Friday to run an arts organization in western New York. When the House returns on Monday, it will have 431 members — 219 Republicans and 212 Democrats. That’s a seven seat majority. And the retirement of Higgins helps the GOP make the math work in their impeachment quest. With a delta of seven seats between the majority and minority, Republicans can now lose three votes on their side and pass something without assistance from Democrats. The margin was two votes prior to Higgins stepping down. 

But it’s more complicated than that. 

It is doubtful that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., will be back next week after receiving cancer treatments. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., should return after being injured in a car accident. But there are always a handful of members out on any given day for health and other reasons. So if Republicans go to the floor to impeach Mayorkas, they need to make sure everyone who is a yea on impeachment is present. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., is a no right now. Johnson told Fox Business Friday morning that he would work on Buck this weekend. 

So, if things go the way the GOP leadership wants, the House could vote on Tuesday or Wednesday to impeach Mayorkas. If the leadership doesn’t put impeachment on the floor, the math won’t work. 

Keep in mind that the Republican hand could either get better or worse if for some reason the House doesn’t vote next week on impeachment. 

There is a special election in New York on February 13 to replace former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., who was expelled. Former Rep. Tom Suozzi, R-N.Y., is running against GOP nominee Mazi Melesa Pilip. If Suozzi wins, the GOP majority shrinks again. But a Pilip victory serves as a Republican reinforcement. 

HESITANT REPUBLICANS COULD DERAIL MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT EFFORT

If and when the House votes, it considers two articles of impeachment. One accuses Mayorkas of disregarding the law. The other charges Mayorkas of lying to Congress, saying the border was secure. 

The House will likely vote on each article separately. Mayorkas would be impeached if the House adopts either article. Moreover, the House does not always approve both articles of impeachment in such an inquest. In 1997, the House only adopted two of the four articles of impeachment leveled against former President Clinton. 

Think of impeachment as an indictment. It’s then up to the Senate to act as a “court” and judge whether the accused is guilty of the charges in a trial. 

The impeachment of cabinet officials is rare. The House has now impeached multiple Presidents and federal judges. But only one cabinet member, Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876. 

If the House approves impeachment articles, it must next take a separate vote to appoint “impeachment managers.” It then dispatches the article or articles of impeachment to the Senate. 

“Impeachment managers” are House members who serve as prosecutors. They present the findings of the House before the Senate. Senators sit as jurors. 

Fox is told that the House wants to get the impeachment articles to the Senate quickly after the vote. The Senate is trying to consider a major border security bill next week. So there could be a bit of a parliamentary traffic jam as the Senate potentially grapples with both the border bill and maybe the start a Senate trial. But it’s also possible a trial could wait until the week of Feb. 11. 

T,his scenario produces a rather shocking split screen. The Senate is dealing with a border security bill as it entertains an impeachment trial against the Homeland Security Secretary. 

OHIO SENATE CANDIDATE SAYS GOP IMPEACHING ‘TRAITOR’ MAYORKAS A ‘NO BRAINER’: ‘GROTESQUELY UNQUALIFIED’

There is a bit of a ceremony to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate from the House and for the Senate to receive the articles. In this case, Acting Clerk of the House Kevin McCumber and House Sergeant at Arms William McFarland escort the articles of impeachment and House managers across the Capitol Dome to the Senate. The Senate gathers, usually with all senators sitting at their desks. Senate Sergeant at Arms Karen Gibson then receives the House entourage at the Senate door and reads the following proclamation to the Senate. 

“All persons are commanded to keep silence, on pain of imprisonment, while the House of Representatives is exhibiting to the Senate of the United States articles of impeachment against Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas.” 

The articles are then presented to the Senate and the managers are introduced. That is all which usually happens on the first day of a Senate trial – although Fox was told the Senate might try to squeeze everything 

Under Senate impeachment trial rule III, the body is supposed to wait until the next day to swear-in senators as jurors. But Fox is told that could happen on day one in this instance. 

According to Senate rules, the “trial” must begin the day after the Senate receives the articles at 1 p.m. Trials are supposed to run Monday through Saturday. There were Saturday sessions in both impeachment trials of former President Trump in 2020 and 2021. 

It is unlikely that U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts will preside over a possible Mayorkas trial. Senate impeachment rule IV requires the Chief Justice to preside over cases involving the President or Vice President. In this case, it’s likely that Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray, D-Wash., will preside over a Mayorkas tribunal.

Now we get to perhaps the most interesting question of all: How much of a trial is there? 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., ducked questions from yours truly last fall about what a potential impeachment trial for President Biden or Mayorkas would look like. 

Schumer again sidestepped a question this week when asked if he would “hold” a trial. “Let’s wait and see what the House does,” replied Schumer. 

But regardless, the Senate cannot immediately bypass a trial. If the House impeaches, the Senate is compelled to at least receive the impeachment articles, the House managers and swear-in the senators. 

At that point, the Senate can decide to hold a full trial, or potentially, move to dismiss or actually have straight, up or down votes on convicting or exonerating Mayorkas. 

In the 1998 impeachment trial of former President Clinton, late Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., made a motion to dismiss the charges. 

In 2010, the Senate was on the verge of launching an impeachment trial of former federal judge Samuel Kent, but he resigned after the House impeached him and before the Senate began the trial. The House notified the Senate it did not want to continue with the trial. So the Senate eventually conducted a vote to discharge itself of responsibilities regarding Kent. 

The Senate could so something similar this time. 

But here’s the rub: There will eventually be either a vote to convict or exonerate Mayorkas or dismiss the charges. Senate Republicans will watch very closely if Senate Democrats engineer any vote to short-circuit the trial. The GOP will take note of how multiple vulnerable Democrats facing competitive re-election bids in battleground districts vote.

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If they vote to end the trial or clear Mayorkas, Republicans will likely enroll that into their campaigns against those Democratic senators. Keep in mind that Fox polling data revealed that border security was the number-one issue facing voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. Republicans will examine the trial-related votes of Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Jon Tester, D-Mont., Bob Casey, D-Pa., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz. – if she runs.

But first, we have to see if the House has the votes to impeach. Everything hinges on that.

Embattled Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has until the end of the day on Friday to respond to allegations of an “improper” relationship she had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired to work the case against former President Trump. 

According to court documents filed earlier this month by Michael Roman, a Trump co-defendant, Willis, who brought election interference-related charges against Trump, has been having an “improper” affair with Wade, whom she hired to help prosecute the 2024 GOP frontrunner. Roman and his lawyers say the alleged impropriety should disqualify her from the case. 

According to the court documents, Wade, who has no Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and felony prosecution experience, billed taxpayers $650,000 at a rate of $250 an hour since his hiring.

Willis and Wade were both subpoenaed by Roman’s lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, to testify at an evidentiary hearing on Feb. 15 before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAffee, who is presiding over the Trump case.  

TRUMP PROSECUTOR FANI WILLIS’ WHITE HOUSE MEETINGS WARRANT ‘VERY DEEP INVESTIGATION,’ EX-PROSECUTOR SAYS

Roman’s filing alleges that Wade billed Fulton County for 24 hours of work on a single day in November 2021, shortly after being appointed as a special prosecutor, and that Willis financially benefited from her alleged lover’s padded taxpayer-funded salary by taking lavish vacations together to Napa Valley, Florida and the Caribbean together on his dime. 

Merchant filed a separate lawsuit on Tuesday against the Fulton County DA’s office for failing to turn over records in compliance with the Georgia Open Records Act, accusing Willis and her team of apparently “intentionally withholding information” ahead of the hearing. 

Merchant said she had to repeatedly file certain requests after they were prematurely closed, and she was incorrectly told certain records did not exist, the lawsuit states.

On Friday morning, the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Willis related to the misuse of federal funds and allegedly firing a whistleblower in her office over the same issue. 

FANI WILLIS WHO ‘RELISHED IN’ DONALD TRUMP PROSECUTION SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM CASE FOR ILLICIT AFFAIR: EXPERTS

The subpoena requires Willis to turn over “all documents and communications referring or relating to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office’s receipt and use of federal funds, including but not limited to, federal funds from the Department of Justice’s Office Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.”

Additionally, she is being asked to turn over all documents from the same offices “referring to or relating to any allegations of the misuse of federal funds.” 

Willis’ office responded to the subpoena in a statement Friday saying, “These false allegations are included in baseless litigation filed by a holdover employee from the previous administration who was terminated for cause.”

“Any examination of the records of our grant programs will find that they are highly effective and conducted in cooperation with the Department of Justice and in compliance with all Department of Justice requirements. Our federal grant programs are focused on helping at-risk youth and seeking justice for sexual assault victims who were too long ignored,” her office said. 

“Our federal grant-funded Sexual Assault Kit Initiative has been cited by the United States Attorney General as a model program. We are proud of our grant programs and our partnership with the Department of Justice that makes Fulton County a safer, more just place,” the statement said.

Willis was scheduled to testify during the divorce proceedings of Wade and his estranged wife this week but narrowly avoided doing so. Just a day before that hearing was scheduled, the judge in that case announced that Nathan and Jocelyn Wade came to a temporary agreement, canceling Wednesday’s divorce proceeding. 

On Jan. 14, Willis addressed the allegations for the first time at Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta, and she seemed to insinuate she believed the allegations to be race-based.

“They only attacked one,” she said. “First thing they say, ‘Oh, she’s gonna play the race card now.’

“But no God, isn’t it them that’s playing the race card when they only question one,” Willis asked.

“You cannot expect Black women to be perfect and save the world,” Willis said, adding that “we need to be allowed to stumble. We need grace.” 

In the Georgia state legislature, two bills have been voted out of the House and Senate that would empower separate commissions to investigate Willis’ office. 

GEORGIA DA FANI WILLIS’ ALLEGED LOVER ASKS FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER IN DIVORCE CASE

Last week, Georgia’s GOP-controlled senate voted to form a special committee that would have subpoena power to investigate Willis. Republican Sen. Greg Dolezal, who introduced the measure, said that “the multitude of accusations surrounding Ms. Willis, spanning from allegations of prosecutorial misconduct to questions about the use of public funds and accusations of an unprofessional relationship, underscores the urgency for a thorough and impartial examination.”

On Monday, the Georgia House members passed a bill to revive the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Qualifications Commission with powers to discipline and remove prosecutors, which Republicans could potentially use to target Willis.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation last year creating the commission last year, but after the state Supreme Court refused to approve the rules governing the committee’s conduct, it was unable to begin operating. The new measure passed by the House that now advances to the Senate, removes the requirement for Supreme Court approval.

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John Malcolm, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Atlanta, told Fox News Digital in an interview that the allegations against Willis are “serious.”

“They ought to be looked into, and it has certainly imperiled this prosecution and given a black mark, not only to Fulton County, but potentially to the entire state, so I can understand why the Georgia legislature is up in arms about this,” he said.

Malcolm, who currently serves as the director of the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, said “this is a difficult moment” for Willis, who he says could ultimately decide to recuse herself from the case. 

The trial date for the sweeping racketeering case against the former president has not yet been set, and it’s not clear that should Willis and her team be removed or recused, that a new prosecutor would pursue some or all of the charges against Trump. 

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Nikki Haley has been making the same argument for months — she would be a stronger Republican standard-bearer than former President Trump to take on President Biden in November’s general election.

“Look at any of the general election polls. There was one that came out yesterday. It said that Donald Trump lost by seven points to Biden,” Haley told the crowd at a campaign event in Hilton Head, South Carolina, on Thursday. “I defeat Biden by up to 17 points.”

Now, the former two-term South Carolina governor who served as U.N. ambassador during the Trump administration is throwing more shade at her former boss.

Haley took to X to jab at Trump. She posted a photo of the former president in a mock Halloween costume titled “Weakest General Election Candidate Ever.”

WHAT NIKKI HALEY TOLD FOX DIGITAL ABOUT WHAT SHE NEEDS TO DO TO KEEP RUNNING

“Democrats are ecstatic about the prospect of running against Donald Trump,” Haley argued. “They couldn’t dream up a worse general election candidate if they tried. Between his legal drama, his terrible poll numbers, and his confusion, Trump will hand Democrats a big victory.”

WHERE TRUMP AND HALEY STAND IN THE LATEST POLL IN A KEY REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY STATE

A couple of hours later, Trump went to his Truth Social platform to make the opposite case, spotlighting polls that indicated he would match up stronger than Haley against President Biden in the general election.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung brushed off the attack, charging in a statement that “Nikki Haley is a stone cold loser who is becoming more irrelevant by the day.”

Haley faces a steep uphill climb for the GOP nomination against Trump, who remains the commanding frontrunner in the Republican race as he makes his third straight run for the White House.

Trump won last month’s Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary — the first two contests in the GOP presidential nominating calendar — by double digits.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign two days before the New Hampshire primary, leaving Trump and Haley as the last two major candidates in a field that stood at nearly 15 contenders last August.

2024 SHOWDOWN: HALEY TARGETS BIDEN AND TRUMP AS ‘GRUMPY OLD MEN’

The next major contest on the Republican schedule is Haley’s home state, which holds its GOP primary on Feb. 24. The latest public opinion survey in South Carolina — from Monmouth University and the Washington Post — indicated the former president has a formidable 26-point lead over Haley.

However, Haley, speaking with Fox News Digital on Thursday after a campaign event at a popular eatery in the Palmetto State’s capital city, reiterated her goalposts.

“It’s just about keeping that momentum going. We got 20% in Iowa. We got 43% in New Hampshire. Let’s bring it a little bit closer so that we can get closer in to him [Trump] and make it more competitive going into Super Tuesday,” she said.

Fifteen states will hold GOP presidential nominating contests on Super Tuesday, which this year will take place on March 5. Thirty-six percent of all Republican presidential delegates will be up for grabs in those primaries and caucuses.

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South Carolina voters surveyed in the Monmouth/Washington Post polls said they believe Trump has a greater chance than Haley of defeating President Biden in November. Forty-two percent said they believe Trump could definitely beat Biden in the general election. Only 21% of South Carolina Republicans said Haley could definitely beat Biden.

“Trump’s electability is a concern for some primary voters. It’s just that this group is nowhere near large enough to put Haley in striking distance of the front-runner,” Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement.

Longtime Republican pollster Neil Newhouse told Fox News that “Republican primary voters don’t vote on who they think has the best chance to beat Biden… Republican primary voters vote on policy and personality, not on electability.”

Newhouse, a veteran of multiple GOP presidential campaigns, argued that spotlighting electability is “generally the last dying cry of a moderate Republican who is getting ready to lose.”

Fox News’ James Levinson contributed to this report.

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

President Biden’s thoughts about former President Trump appear to be more vulgar behind closed doors than in public despite he and other Democrats routinely calling for “civility” and “decency” in politics.

On Biden’s first day in office, he lectured his staff about the importance of respect and said, “I am not joking when I say this, if you are ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot. On the spot. No ifs, ands or buts.”  

However, Biden has been at the center of multiple reports detailing how he’s prone to outbursts and “angry interrogations” of staff when not in the public eye. That demeanor appears to have continued as the president takes aim at Trump in private to his close allies and aides.

During conversations with his confidantes, Biden has allegedly referred to Trump as a “sick f—” who enjoys seeing others encounter setbacks, Politico reported Thursday. 

WH AIDES CLAIM BIDEN PRONE TO OUTBURSTS, ‘ANGRY INTERROGATIONS’ BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: ‘GET THE F—K OUT’

The publication spoke to three individuals who heard Biden make the remarks. One of those individuals added Biden also recently called Trump a “f—ing a–hole.”

Trump’s campaign fired back at the president for his alleged comments.

“It’s a shame that Crooked Joe Biden disrespects the presidency both publicly and privately,” senior Trump campaign adviser Chris Lacivita told Politico. “But then again, it’s no surprise he disrespects the 45th president the same way he disrespects the American people with his failed policies.”

BIDEN’S HISTORY OF BERATING, SCOLDING AND INSULTING REPORTERS, FROM ‘STUPID SON OF A B—-’ TO ‘GET EDUCATED’

Conservatives took to social media Thursday evening blasting Biden for his comments about Trump.

Steve Guest, who previously worked for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and the Republican National Committee, called Biden a “fraud” and included a screenshot of the report where Biden lectured his staffers about decency.

“As Biden tries to jail Trump through his Justice Dept, Biden’s operatives leak vulgar attacks on him,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton posted on X.

“Yes the angry, petty, vengeful man who rages about Trump in private would never sic his DOJ on his predecessor and 2024 competitor,” author Julie Kelly posted on X. “Rule of law and whatnot. I am sure Trump’s defense attorneys are VERY interested in this for selective prosecution claims.”

“Biden has always been a lowlife and ignoramus,” Fox News’ Mark Levin posted on X.

A White House spokesman, when asked for comment by Fox News Digital, used the word “snowflake” to describe media coverage of the president’s foul language.

Past reports have suggested Biden is inclined to yell at White House aides behind closed doors and drag them in for “angry interrogations.” The reports have alleged Biden has such a “quick-trigger temper” that some White House staffers attempt to dodge meeting him one-on-one.

“Some take a colleague, almost as a shield against a solo blast,” Biden aides said last summer.  

The president’s alleged outbursts have included expressions such as “God d—it, how the f— don’t you know this?!,” “Don’t f—ing bulls— me!” and “Get the f— out of here!”

Biden’s tactics generally came in the form of “angry interrogations” until it became apparent to others in the room that they didn’t know the answer to a question. It allegedly became so routine that staff named it “stump the chump.”

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“No one is safe,” one administration official previously said.

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

Fox News Digital’s Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.

The Biden administration sent millions in government assistance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for FY24 amid allegations of terrorist ties against federal employees prior to the administration’s pause of new funding. 

The administration announced a pause on new funding would be enacted last week over allegations that some of its members were “involved” in the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack in Israel. The U.S. government had already earmarked $51 million for FY24 prior to the pause.

The funds were a result of an emergency request for Gaza and the West Bank following the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, and the war that resulted.

“The pause decision was well after the initial tranche to UNRWA’s oPt Flash Appeal of $51M,” a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “That funding was obligated back in mid-November in the early part of the crisis, about 100 days before the Jan. 26 pause.”

Some politicians criticized the spending following the State Department’s pause in funding. Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell blasted President Biden on the floor on Tuesday for the aid, while calling for a stronger retaliatory response against Iranian proxies. 

TRUMP ADMIN CUT FUNDING TO UN AGENCY NOW ACCUSED OF PARTICIPATING IN HAMAS ATTACK ‘FOR REASON’: REP. MCCAUL

“As I’ve said before, there is no room for the tired cast of corruption and terrorism in the future of the Palestinian people. As such, Senate Republicans will not accept any legislation that allows taxpayer dollars to fund UNRWA,” McConnell said. 

At the time the pause was implemented, about $300,000 had been approved for UNRWA but not yet obligated, the State Department spokesperson said. The approved funds were frozen as a result of the pause.

“No further funds will be approved for UNRWA during the pause,” the department said. “The majority of UNRWA’s funding comes from donors other than the United States.”

According to a USAID fact sheet, the funds were assigned to go toward food assistance, protection, shelter and settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. 

The Biden administration has sent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to UNRWA in recent years — arguing the agency provides much needed humanitarian aid to Palestinian territories — after reversing former President Trump’s decision to cut funding to the group. 

Critics have long argued that UNRWA is directly tied to Hamas terrorists. 

On Tuesday, New Jersey GOP Rep. Chris Smith introduced a bill, known as the “Stop Support United Nations Relief and Works Agency Act of 2024,” that would cut off U.S. funding.

Twelve UNRWA employees were allegedly “involved” in the Oct. 7 attack, and additional U.S. funding could resume subject to an investigation from the United Nations. 

UN’S TOP COURT ALLOWS ISRAEL TO KEEP FIGHTING IN GAZA, ORDERS IT TO ‘ADHERE TO THE GENOCIDE CONVENTION’

UNRWA, citing information provided by Israeli authorities, fired the accused employees last week and announced an investigation “to protect the agency’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance” and “establish the truth without delay,” Reuters reported. 

Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters Tuesday the federal government supports “the work that UNRWA does” and called it “critical” to the region. 

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“There is no other humanitarian player in Gaza who can provide food, medicine at the scale that UNRWA does,” Miller said. “We want to see that work continued, which is why it is so important that the United Nations take this matter seriously, that they investigate it, that there is accountability for anyone who is found to engage in wrongdoing, and that they take whatever other measures are appropriate to ensure that this sort of thing cannot happen again.”

Fox News’ Peter Aitken contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: A group of House Republicans is demanding that President Biden use his executive powers to address the border crisis, a pointed message as White House and Senate negotiators work on a compromise to address the issue.

“Speaker Mike Johnson wrote to you in December of 2023, urging you to take executive action to secure the Southern Border. House Republicans have passed H.R.2, legislation that would help stop the flow of illegal immigration and protect our communities,” the letter led by Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, said.

“Your actions alone created this catastrophe, and you have the power to fix it. You can choose to direct your administration to vigorously enforce the laws on the books today, thereby stemming the tide of illegal immigration and protecting our communities.

‘SENSE OF HOPELESSNESS’: MICHAEL MCCAUL SOUNDS ALARM ON BORDER PATROL MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

“Or you can choose to perpetuate this national security and humanitarian crisis through your unequivocal failure of leadership for the American people.”

It’s a sign of the House Republican conference falling in line behind House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and his skepticism of the ongoing bipartisan border security talks.

The House passed H.R.2, a strict border security and immigration bill, last summer. It would have revived Trump-era policies like Remain In Mexico, while broadening border agents’ expulsion authority, among other measures. Democrats have panned the bill as a nonstarter.

WATCH: MIGRANTS CLAIM ASYLUM ON COLD JANUARY NIGHT AS CBP UNION LEADER TALKS BORDER CRISIS

Johnson has held onto H.R.2 as House Republicans’ default position on the border talks. Hinson’s letter makes clear that it’s a sentiment shared by his rank-and-file as well.

It puts the eventual border security deal’s fate more into question, even before the bill text is released.

In her Friday letter, Hinson accused Biden of having “undermined” border security through administration policies and executive orders.

MAYORKAS BLAMES MEXICO, CONGRESS FOR HISTORIC BORDER SURGE; CALLS FOR MORE FUNDING AND ‘REFORM’

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“The U.S. Southern Border is being overrun by illegal immigrants. The responsibility for this crisis lies with you. Under your direction, your administration has intentionally and systematically undermined U.S. border security by perpetually refusing to enforce countless laws that have worked to secure our Southern Border and prevent illegal immigration,” she wrote.

“On January 20, 2021, – your very first day in office – you immediately took executive action to halt border wall construction and issued a moratorium on deportations and immigration enforcement. Your administration has repeatedly ignored Congress’ authority and issued over immigration and border policies that have clearly signaled to illegal immigrants, traffickers, and cartels that America’s borders are open.”

President Biden’s reelection campaign ended 2023 with nearly $117 million in its coffers, far ahead of his potential GOP rivals as they seek to woo big Republican donors.

Former President Trump’s campaign committee closed out the year with $33 million, and Nikki Haley, Trump’s last major rival for the GOP nomination, ended 2023 with around $15 million.

The campaign totals are only a partial picture. Trump donors contributed a total of $188 million in 2023 to support various committees, yet that was offset by paying tens of millions in legal bills of the former president, the Wall Street Journal reported. Across the board, Trump and his outside political groups had around $65 million cash on hand by Jan. 1.

Haley, who came in second place in New Hampshire and third place in Iowa, is still buoyed by a steady flow of campaign donations in her uphill fight against Trump.

HALEY TRAILS TRUMP IN HOME STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA AHEAD OF STATE’S PRIMARY ELECTION: POLL

In the week after the New Hampshire primary, Haley’s campaign raised more than $5 million, according to a source familiar with the fundraising.

Her fundraising spree hasn’t let up as she attended 10 fundraisers in a two-week span. At a series of donor meetings in New York and Florida, Haley brought in $2.5 million.

Haley’s campaign has pointed out that with Trump as the nominee, down-ballot races for House and Senate could be impacted.

At one meeting with high-dollar GOP donors in Florida on Wednesday, both Haley and Trump’s campaigns made their pitches to the meeting of the network known as the American Opportunity Alliance (AOA). Haley’s campaign manager, Betsy Ankney, told the group that Trump’s former ambassador to the U.N. was the last hope at preventing a Trump vs. Biden rematch in 2024 that a majority of Americans don’t seem to want.

“We know the House is gone if Trump is the nominee,” a source familiar with the campaign told Fox News Digital. “There are 18 seats held by Republicans that Joe Biden won in 2020, 10 of them by five points or more,” the source added. “November’s Senate map highly favors Republicans, but that favorability won’t last past this year “Because there are no Democrats up in Trump states in 2026 or 2028.”

NIKKI HALEY EXPLAINS COMMENTS ON WHETHER TEXAS CAN SECEDE FROM THE UNITED STATES

At the Florida AOA fundraiser, Susie Wiles, a top adviser on the Trump campaign, pitched the former president at the meeting despite his rocky relationship with some GOP donors. The case for Trump, according to reports, centered around the low possibility of Haley’s path to victory. She didn’t win either of the first two nominating contests, and South Carolina — her home state — looks to be no different.

“President Trump’s campaign is fueled by small dollar donors across the country from every background who are sick and tired of Crooked Joe Biden’s record-high inflation, wide open border, crime and chaos. President Trump continues to dominate Biden in every single battleground poll, and we are more confident than ever that he will take back the White House in November,” said Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement.

Trump has made his legal fights a central theme of his political campaign, accusing Democrats of using “ridiculous” lawsuits and criminal charges to keep him off the ballot. In the early days of the GOP primary last year, he did see a dramatic rise against Republican rivals as he faced more and more indictments.

However, the Trump payments to law firms fighting four criminal cases and several civil trials caught Haley’s attention.

“He can’t beat Joe Biden if he’s spending all his time and money on court cases and chaos,” Haley posted on X this week.

The post-Iowa and New Hampshire fundraising figures for the Trump campaign have not been released, so it’s unclear what boost he may have seen after his commanding victories in the first two contests.

Haley did appear to get a boost from donors after Trump said anyone who donated to Haley’s campaign following his initial victories would be “will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp.”

Haley’s campaign says it raised half a million dollars from selling more than 15,000 “permanently barred” T-shirts.

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Though Trump has had a stormy relationship over the years with some in the GOP donor class, he has been making an effort this cycle to mend fences and court top-dollar contributors.

“I think they’re running a much more sophisticated campaign this year than ever before,” a major GOP bundler who asked to remain anonymous told Fox News Digital in a previous interview. “And so, as part of that, they’re looking to consolidate Republican support, both politically and financially.”

Term limits have been discussed for decades among voters and elected officials, leading many to question whether the possibility of such a change to the American political landscape could ever reach fruition.

A September 2023 poll found that a majority of adults, 87%, favor limits on the number of terms each member of Congress is allowed to serve.

The Pew Research Center study also found that term limits are almost equally popular among both Republicans and Democrats. Among those who were surveyed, 90% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they supported them. Democrats and Democrat-leaning voters largely agreed, with 86% giving the nod to limits on how long a lawmaker can serve in either body of Congress.

Despite the polling data, a measure introduced last year by Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., was “killed” by the House committee it was referred to, preventing it from making it to the full House for a vote.

HOW EXODUS FROM CONGRESS COULD SHAPE 2024 ELECTION

That bill, H.J.Res.11, an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, would have limited those serving in the House to three terms, for a total of six years, and those serving in the Senate to two terms, for a total of 12 years.

Shortly after the measure was introduced in January 2023, it was referred to the House Judiciary Committee. It wasn’t until eight months later, in September 2023, that the bill was considered by the committee and shot down by four Republicans and all Democrats who served on the committee. In total, the measure received 17 “ayes” and 19 “nays”.

Fox News Digital reached out to the four House Republicans who voted against the measure – Reps. Darrell Issa of California, Tom McClintock of California, Scott Fitzgerald of Wisconsin, and Harriet Hageman of Wyoming – in an attempt to better understand the rationale behind their decision, which differed greatly from that of their GOP colleagues on the committee.

Hageman, who has represented Wyoming’s at-large congressional district since 2023 after defeating former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney in the red state’s 2022 Republican primary election, said she voted against the measure because she disagrees with the notion of “forcibly” removing lawmakers from their posts. She insists that was up to voters at the ballot box.

“Haven’t we learned from Democrat stunts against President Trump that it’s a terrible idea to undemocratically remove candidates from the ballot for arbitrary reasons? Term limits would deny voters a choice they may want to make,” Hageman said. “Also, in a time when unelected career federal bureaucrats are wielding more power than ever before, using regulations to carry out the agenda of radical, leftist, environmental extremists, why would we make them even more powerful by forcibly removing members of Congress who know how to fight against them?”

“We already have term limits, although we call them elections, and in the House we have them every two years,” she added. “You only have to look at the seat that I currently hold for the people of Wyoming to see that if voters are dissatisfied, they can always change horses. I’ve held more than 50 town halls across Wyoming since 2022, and when this topic comes up, I always very clearly explain why I’m opposed to term limits. Voters know where I stand.”

Similar to that of Hageman, Fitzgerald argued that he has held “the same position on term limits” since he was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1994. Elected officials, Fitzgerald said, are “held to account every time their name appears on a ballot.”

“In the House, Members of Congress are elected for two-year terms and that ensures representation is always aligned with the constituency,” he added.

Both Issa and McClintock did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about their September 2023 vote on the measure.

McClintock, however, described his opposition to term limits during a Judiciary Committee gathering following his vote against Norman’s amendment. McClintock said he disagreed with limiting the number of terms members of Congress can serve after seeing how the California State Assembly functioned after its enactment of term limits in the 1990s.

“I left the assembly in 1992 when the term limits had no practical effect yet on the membership and I returned four years later when they had had complete and total effect. And the differences I observed were absolutely jarring. They achieved the opposite of their intended effect,” McClintock said at the time.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN PUSHES AGE LIMITS FOR PRESIDENT, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

The “four members that sided with Democrats,” Norman said, had “different answers” for why they chose to vote against the measure.

“Some said they didn’t like the three and two, in other words, three terms in the House for six years and the [two terms for] 12 years in the Senate, and others just said they were against it,” he said.

“At the end of the day, we have got to do something about people, you know, coming up to Congress and just living and not going back home and living under some of these disastrous legislations that they’re passing,” he added.

Despite there being some GOP opposition to term limits, which Norman found to be “disappointing,” the South Carolina Republican told Fox he plans to bring forth similar legislation when a new president is elected.

Acknowledging that his future proposal would be a “tall order” for members of Congress, Norman said, “I’m going to bring it back up and talk to the four on the judiciary that were against it and then see if we can’t get the two-thirds vote [in the House].”

Reaffirming his commitment to the issue, Norman added, “We’re going to try it again. It’s going to take the executive branch being behind it, meaning the president, hopefully, will push this and make this a key vote. 

“What I’m tired of is we have candidates on both sides of the aisle, Democrat and Republican, that are campaigning on term limits,” Norman said. “Their stand is that they’ll come serve for a short time and go home. That just hasn’t happened.”

Noting that several House members “have been here 20 plus years” and that the Senate “might as well be a nursing home,” Norman said when members “reach a certain age and a time in Congress, [they] need to go home.”

Norman also said he believes Americans have a right to know who favors or disagrees with term limits by the full House holding a vote on a measure like the one he proposed.

“It’s important for Americans to see who is fighting and voting against term limits versus those who are in favor of it. This is a very important vote to highlight to the American people. It’s an 80/20 issue – 80% of the public favors term limits, 20% don’t. They know the consequences if they vote against this kind of bill,” he said.

“I’m optimistic we’ll get it as soon as we get a new president,” Norman concluded.

Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., who also voted in support of Norman’s amendment last September in the Judiciary Committee, said she believes most politicians are “just talking heads” when it comes to term limits.

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“Unfortunately, our Constitution has been distorted since our founding times with an enormous growth of the federal government,” the congresswoman said. “Therefore, term limits should be considered as one of the solutions. However, most politicians are just talking heads and are afraid to put their money where their mouth is, so the term limits bill conveniently failed in the committee.”

Federal lawmakers previously attempted to impose term limits for those serving in Congress in 1995, but the proposal failed to advance out of the House, coming up 61 votes short. The amendment offered at the time would have limited members of Congress to 12 years in either chamber – six terms for House members and two terms for Senate members.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Nikki Haley says she doesn’t need to win in her home state of South Carolina later this month to keep her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination alive.

“Success means being competitive. Closing the gap. Making sure we can continue to go forward as we go into Super Tuesday,” Haley emphasized in a Fox News Digital interview. 

The former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in former President Donald Trump’s administration faces a steep uphill climb for the GOP nomination against Trump, who’s the commanding front-runner in the Republican race as he makes his third straight run for the White House.

WHERE TRUMP AND HALEY STAND IN THE LATEST POLL IN A KEY REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY STATE

Trump won last month’s Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary – the first two contests in the GOP presidential nominating calendar – by double digits.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign two days before the New Hampshire primary, leaving Trump and Haley as the last two major candidates in a field that stood at nearly 15 contenders last August.

2024 SHOWDOWN: HALEY TARGETS BIDEN AND TRUMP AS ‘GRUMPY OLD MEN’

The next major contest in the Republican schedule is Haley’s home state, which holds its GOP primary on Feb. 24. The latest public opinion survey indicates the former president with a formidable 26-point lead over Haley.

But Haley, speaking with Fox News Digital on Thursday after a campaign event at a popular eatery in the Palmetto State’s capital city, reiterated her goalposts.

“It’s just about keeping that momentum going. We got 20% in Iowa. We got 43% in New Hampshire. Let’s bring it a little bit closer so that we can get closer in to him [Trump] and make it more competitive going into Super Tuesday,” she emphasized.

Fifteen states will hold GOP presidential nominating contests on Super Tuesday, which this year will take place on March 5. Thirty-six percent of all Republican presidential delegates will be up for grabs in those primaries and caucuses.

Since her 11-point loss to Trump on Jan. 23 in New Hampshire, Haley has faced calls to drop out, so Trump can start focusing on defeating President Biden in November’s general election.

But at her campaign event in Columbia and a later stop Thursday in Hilton Head, South Carolina, as well as in a scrum with political reporters, Haley emphasized that “we’re not going anywhere.”

“This is about just closing that gap,” she added “We have a country to save, and I am determined to keep on going the entire way as long as we can keep closing that gap.”

Trump enjoys the backing of many of South Carolina’s top Republican elected officials, including Gov. Henry McMaster and Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, who in November ended his own White House bid.

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But Haley discounted the former president’s political endorsements in South Carolina and around the nation, telling the crowd in Hilton Head that Trump “has surrounded himself with the political elite. You see all those congressional members around him, the same ones that haven’t done anything for us.”

Haley also took aim at Trump after federal election filings showed that Trump’s political committees spent roughly $29 million in legal consulting and legal fees in the second half of 2023.

Trump made history last year as the first former or current president to be indicted for a crime, but his four indictments, including charges he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss, have only fueled his support among Republican voters.

“His court cases have just started,” Haley emphasized at her event in Columbia, South Carolina. “Do you really think he’s going to win against Joe Biden when he’s spending all of that money on legal fees? He’s not.”

Fox News’ James Levinson contributed to this report

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

President Biden’s acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Patrick Lechleitner, admitted that a terrorist was allowed to roam freely in the U.S. for nearly a year after crossing into the country illegally at the border.

At a briefing on Thursday, Lechleitner said the terrorist was arrested within 48 hours, only after ICE “became aware.”

Lechleitner confirmed a report by The Daily Caller that federal authorities caught a terrorist illegally crossing into the U.S. via the southern border in March 2023. 

However, the terrorist was then released into the U.S. due to a “mismatch” after his name was run through the terror watch list, The Daily Caller reported.

DEMOCRATS DENY BORDER CRISIS, PLACE BLAME ON REPUBLICANS AND TRUMP

The unnamed terrorist was a member of al-Shabab and was captured last month in Minneapolis, according to the outlet.

SPEEDBOAT PULLS UP TO SAN DIEGO SHORE AND DROPS OFF GROUP OF SUSPECTED ILLEGAL MIGRANTS

When questioned by Jennie Taer of The Daily Caller about how many other terrorists have been apprehended in the interior after coming through the border, Lechleitner refused to answer her question.

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Instead, he addressed the capture of the al-Shabab terrorist.

“I want to commend our personnel because as soon as we became aware of that — within 48 hours — he was apprehended, and he’s currently in ICE custody,” Lechleitner said. “I think that’s an incredible result — a testament to how professional, quite honestly, how capable our personnel are.”

According to the U.S. State Department, al-Shabab is al Qaeda’s largest, wealthiest and most deadly affiliate. The group has murdered thousands of people in Somalia and the region, including Americans. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for more information.

The U.S. State Department announced Thursday that it was imposing financial sanctions against four Israelis, after they allegedly contributed to violence and instability in the West Bank.

The announcement came hours after President Biden issued an executive order giving the U.S. the authority to impose financial sanctions against any foreign person who acts to threaten peace, security or stability in the West Bank.

“The State Department is today imposing financial sanctions on four Israeli nationals for their destabilizing acts in the West Bank,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said during a press briefing. “Today’s action falls on the steps we took in December to impose visa restrictions on dozens of individuals for…contributing to violence and instability in the West Bank.”

Biden imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers Thursday in the West Bank, after a 17-year-old American citizen was shot and killed there in January.

BIDEN SANCTIONS ISRAELI SETTLERS IN WEST BANK AFTER SHOOTING OF US TEEN

An announcement from the White House on the executive order states, “extremist settler violence” reached record levels in the West Bank in 2023. The sanctions will ban dozens of settlers and their families from traveling to or conducting business in the U.S.

Biden’s order applies to settlers who make “acts or threats of violence against civilians, intimidate civilians to cause them to leave their homes, destroy or seize property, or engage in terrorist activity in the West Bank.”

The action came after 17-year-old Abedel Jabbar, a U.S. citizen, was allegedly shot and killed by an Israeli settler while visiting the West Bank in January. Jabbar’s family said he was visiting the area to learn more about his Palestinian heritage.

TRUMP ADMIN CUT FUNDING TO UN AGENCY NOW ACCUSED OF PARTICIPATING IN HAMAS ATTACK ‘FOR REASON’: REP. MCCAUL

“There is no justification for extremist violence against civilians, whatever their national origin, ethnicity, or religion,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

The four individuals who the U.S. imposed financial sanctions against are David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman, and Yinon Levi.

The State Department said Chasdai initiated and led a riot that involved setting vehicles and buildings on fire, assaulting Palestinian civilians, and damaging a property in Huwara, which resulted in the death of a Palestinian civilian.

UN CALLS ON COUNTRIES TO RESUME UNRWA FUNDING DESPITE REPORT EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATED IN OCT 7 MASSACRE

Tanjil, the State Department said, participated in assaulting Palestinian farmers and Israeli activists by attacking them with stones and clubs, causing injuries that required medical treatment.

Zicherman was seen on video assaulting Israeli activists and their vehicles in the West Bank, blocking them on the street. He also tried to break windows of vehicles passing by with activists inside, the State Department noted, adding that Zicherman cornered at least two activists and injured them both.

Levi is accused of leading a group of settlers who created fear in the West Bank. The State Department also said Levi led settlers from the Meitarim Farm outpost, who assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, threatened them with additional violence if they did not leave their homes, set fire to their fields and destroyed their property.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement on the sanctions.

“The absolute majority of the settlers in the West Bank are law-abiding citizens, many of whom are currently taking part in Israel’s defense,” he said. “Israel acts against anyone who breaks the law. Therefore, no room for exceptional measures in this regard.”

Netanyahu’s finance minister, Benjamin Smotrich, called the accusations of violence by settlers an “antisemitic lie,” and added that settlements in the region will continue.

“If the price is the imposition of American sanctions on me — so be it,” Smotrich said.

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

Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb infuriated residents after claiming the city’s rampant crime crisis cannot be dealt with through law and order.

Angry residents met with community leaders in Washington, D.C., Tuesday for a panel to discuss the rise of violent crime in the city, specifically among juveniles, when Schwalb made the controversial comment.

As residents voiced their concerns and frustrations, the Democrat suggested that if district residents want to be “safer in the long run,” they must take preventative measures rather than arrest and prosecute violent criminals.

“We as a city and a community need to be much more focused on prevention and surrounding young people and their families with resources if we want to be safer in the long run,” Shwalb said in a viral clip from Fox 5. “We cannot prosecute and arrest our way out of it.”

FORMER TRUMP ADMIN MEMBER CRITICALLY INJURED IN WASHINGTON DC CARJACKING RAMPAGE: REPORTS

“Madness,” Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., wrote on X. “DC is emblematic of the pro-crime policies leftists want to export to the rest of the country.”

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES NEW RESOURCES TO COMBAT VIOLENT CRIME IN DC

“Yes you can,” the Republican House Judiciary Committee also posted in response after recent statistics reveal robberies in D.C. are up 11% since Jan. 1.

Will Reinert, national press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), wrote that Schwalb’s comment was “beyond parody.”

“I would suggest you try prosecuting and arresting your way out of some of this,” conservative commentator and podcaster Mary Katharine Ham wrote in a repost of the video.

Abigail Jackson, communications director for Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., responded to Shwalb’s claim, saying, “yes… you can….”

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Gabriel Shoglow-Rubenstein, a spokesperson for the D.C. AG’s office, told Fox News Digital Shwalb is “laser focused” on making D.C. “safer.”

“The Office of the Attorney General is laser focused on using the law to make D.C. safer. This includes prosecuting juveniles and holding them accountable when they commit crimes, which we do for every serious offense where there is sufficient evidence to prove a case,” Shoglow-Rubenstein said. 

“Prosecution, however, by definition, takes place after a crime has occurred, and to truly make the District safer, we need to focus on stopping crime before it happens in the first place,” he added. “Prevention efforts cannot replace effective policing and prosecution, but are equally necessary in order to make D.C. safer now and in the long run.”

Tuesday’s panel, “Understanding Juvenile Carjacking: A Panel Discussion,” was moderated by Councilmember Charles Allen, who is facing a recall effort amid a rise in violent crime in Ward 6. 

Former President Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden with just over 50% support in Georgia, a state Biden won by less than 1 point in 2020.

That’s according to a Fox News survey of Georgia registered voters released Thursday.

Just over half of Peach State voters, 51%, say they would support Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head rematch, while 43% say they’d go for Biden. That puts Trump ahead by 8 points, outside the poll’s margin of sampling error.

FOX NEWS POLL: BIDEN AND TRUMP TIE IN WISCONSIN HEAD-TO-HEAD MATCHUP

Eight in 10 Georgians (78%) say they are extremely or very interested in the race and the vote breakdown among this subgroup is similar: 52% would go for Trump and 43% Biden.

BLACK CONSERVATIVE FEDERATION SAYS GOP, TRUMP CAN RESTORE THE ‘AMERICAN DREAM’ IN BLACK COMMUNITY

Trump receives strong support from his base, including White evangelicals (85%), conservatives (76%), White voters without a college degree (74%), and rural voters (67%). For Biden, it’s liberals (87%), Black voters (71%), voters with a college degree (52%), and suburban women (52%).

Democrats and Republicans are equally likely to support their respective candidates (91% each) while independents go for Trump by 20 points (51-31%).  It also helps Trump that more Republicans (83%) than Democrats (78%) are interested in the election. 

Biden is taking a hit with younger voters as those under age 35 go for Trump by 7 points.

A majority says Biden was legitimately elected in 2020 (60%), yet over 2 in 10 (22%) of that subgroup would vote for Trump in 2024. About a third (32%) believe Biden’s victory was suspect, and they overwhelmingly go for the former president (97% Trump).

“Given that the Democrats won major U.S. Senate races in 2020 and 2022, Trump’s strength in this poll is somewhat surprising,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw who conducts the Fox News Poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. “We can blather on (correctly) about how ‘anything can happen,’ but the reality is Biden may want to shift his focus and precious resources away from Georgia and onto other potential battleground states, such as North Carolina.”

In a potential 5-way race, Trump still leads the pack, but both the former president and current incumbent lose support to third-party candidates: Trump gets 45%, while Biden drops to 37% support. Other candidates receive a total of 12% support: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (8%), Cornel West (3%), and Jill Stein (1%).

The survey tested another hypothetical 5-way race, which substitutes Nikki Haley for Trump. In this case, third-party candidates help Biden and hurt Haley. Biden comes out on top by 6 points with 35% support among Georgians, followed by Haley at 29%, Kennedy at 18%, West at 3%, and Stein at 1%.

Where do Trump supporters go in this scenario? Just 46% would back Haley, while 31% would vote third-party, 6% wouldn’t cast a ballot at all, and 13% are undecided. Haley gets over 50% support among registered Republicans (52%), but nowhere near the 83% Trump garners in his 5-way race.

Independents splinter when it comes to Haley – 20% back her, while 22% would go for Biden and a larger share, 30%, for Kennedy. By comparison, Trump receives 34% support among independent Georgia voters vs. 21% for Biden and 17% for Kennedy. 

The economy is the top issue nationally, and it’s no different in Georgia as 44% feel they are falling behind financially (43% say they’re holding steady and 12% say they are getting ahead).

When asked the most important issue in deciding their vote this November, 62% say the economy is extremely important, followed by election integrity (53%), health care (51%), and immigration/border security (46%). Abortion comes in at 40% while all other issues fall under 30%: the Israel-Hamas war (28%), climate change (27%), and the Ukraine-Russia war (23%).

Trump comes out on top on most issues. More Georgia voters trust Trump than Biden to handle immigration/border security (+21 Trump better to handle), the economy (+18), Israel-Hamas (+15), and Ukraine-Russia (+11). Voters are split on health care (+2 Trump), election integrity (+1 Trump), and abortion (even). The only issue where Biden comes out on top is climate change (+5 Biden).

FORMER BIDEN RIVAL SAYS TRUMP WINS IF ELECTION HELD TODAY, ACCUSES DNC OF STIFLING DEMOCRACY

“The coalition that gave Biden a slim victory in 2020 is in need of reassembly and that may be harder to do this time,” says Anderson. “On the crucial issues of the border and the economy, Georgia voters think Trump is significantly better — Biden will need to make inroads on these issues to win Georgia again.”

Another topic surrounding the presidential candidates is their mental acuity and more voters are extremely or very concerned about Biden’s mental soundness (65% concerned) than they are Trump’s (51%).

Biden’s job ratings are on par with his national ratings, which are underwater: 41% approve vs. 58% disapprove in Georgia.

Georgia voters are ready for change — a lot of it. Nearly 8 in 10 want either a lot (50%) or radical (29%) change in how the country is run, while 2 in 10 say a little (17%) or no change (3%) is necessary.

Trump wins among those who want at least a lot of change, while Biden wins among the remainder. 

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Conducted January 26-30, 2024 under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with a sample of 1,119 Georgia registered voters randomly selected from a statewide voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (200) and cellphones (649) or completed the survey online after receiving a text message (270). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. When necessary, weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics of survey respondents are representative of the registered voter population.

President Biden imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank on Thursday after a 17-year-old American citizen was shot and killed there last month.

A White House announcement of the executive order states that “extremist settler violence” reached record levels in the West Bank in 2023. The sanctions will ban dozens of settlers and their families from traveling to or conducting business in the U.S.

The order specifically applies to settlers who make “acts or threats of violence against civilians, intimidate civilians to cause them to leave their homes, destroy or seize property, or engage in terrorist activity in the West Bank.”

The move comes after 17-year-old Abdel Jabbar, a U.S. citizen, was allegedly shot and killed by an Israeli settler while visiting the West Bank last month. Jabbar’s family says he was visiting the area in order to learn more about his Palestinian heritage.

TRUMP ADMIN CUT FUNDING TO UN AGENCY NOW ACCUSED OF PARTICIPATING IN HAMAS ATTACK ‘FOR REASON’: REP. MCCAUL

Jabbar was killed while driving a vehicle with his friend, 16-year-old Mohammed Salameh. At least 10 shots were fired through the rear of the vehicle, striking Jabbar and causing the vehicle to flip over.

Salameh survived and claims the shooting was unprovoked. Israeli police said the shooting targeted people “purportedly engaged in rock-throwing activities along Highway 60.” Police have not identified the shooter, but said the incident involved an off-duty police officer, a soldier and a civilian.

Jabbar’s father rejected claims that his son was throwing rocks toward the road, but added that even if he was, “So what?”

“If they were throwing rocks 150 meters to the street, what is it going to do to a tank? Or to a jeep? Or to a car full of soldiers? You’re gonna shoot the car 10 times because a guy threw a rock?” the father, Hafeth Abdel Jabbar, told NBC News.

The State Department imposed other visa restrictions on West Bank settlers in December. Biden’s administration has leaned heavily on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to crack down on the group.

UN CALLS ON COUNTRIES TO RESUME UNRWA FUNDING DESPITE REPORT EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATED IN OCT 7 MASSACRE

“The United States has consistently opposed actions that undermine stability in the West Bank, including attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, and Palestinian attacks against Israelis,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

“We have underscored to the Israeli government the need to do more to hold accountable extremist settlers who have committed violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank. As President Biden has repeatedly said, those attacks are unacceptable,” he added.

One member of Netanyahu’s government responded to Biden’s move with derision on Thursday. Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Smotrich claimed that accusations of violence by settlers was an “antisemitic lie.”

AUSTRIA SUSPENDS PAYMENTS TO UNRWA AMID ISRAELI ALLEGATIONS UN WORKERS HELPED, CELEBRATED HAMAS

Smotrich vowed to continue pushing settlements in the West Bank, adding “if the price is the imposition of American sanctions on me – so be it.”

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Israeli Defense Secretary Yoav Gallant announced that the country’s military would ban the reconstruction of Israeli settlements in Gaza following the war. A few Israeli politicians had called for the settlements to be rebuilt after they were originally dismantled when Israel ceded the territory in 2005.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley stumbled through a question about whether the state of Texas has a right to secede from the United States, and she claimed that it is “their decision to make.”

During an interview on “The Breakfast Club” podcast, Charlamagne tha God asked the 2024 presidential hopeful if she would “use force against Texas if they would try to secede from the Union over the border issue?” Charlamagne referenced a 2010 interview with Haley saying the U.S. Constitution allows for states to secede. 

“I believe in states’ rights. I believe that everything should be as close to the people to decide,” Haley said, adding that she supported Gov. Greg Abbott’s razor wire fencing measure to protect his state amid the growing border crisis.

When pressed about the issue of secession, Haley said that, “If Texas decides they want to do that, they can do that. If that whole state says we don’t want to be part of America anymore. I mean, that’s their decision to make.”

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“I don’t think government needs to tell people how to live, how to do anything. I mean, I think that we need to let freedom live,” Haley added. 

“I think you know, states are going to make decisions, but let’s talk about what’s reality. Texas isn’t going to…seceed. I mean, that’s not something that they’re going to do,” Haley said. 

Texas is currently in a standoff with the Biden administration over the state’s razor wire fence along Eagle Pass that has seen record migrant crossings in recent months. The Supreme Court ruled that, temporarily while the case continues in lower courts, the federal government can cut down the fence and Texas can keep building it. 

After the controversial 5-4 decision last week, rumors swirled about how tensions would escalate between the Lone Star state and the federal government. 

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Gov. Abbot said he would invoke Article 1, Section 10, which he says was “triggered” by Biden’s inaction at the border. That constitutional provision says, “No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.” 

However, the Constitution does not allow for any state to secede from the Union, even Texas. 

The Texas Tribune wrote, “Even before Texas formally rejoined the nation, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that secession had never been legal, and that, even during the rebellion, Texas continued to be a state.”

When Texas rejoined the Union in 1845, its annexation resolution said that Texas could, in the future, choose to divide itself into “New States of convenient size not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas.” 

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However, the language of the resolution merely says that Texas could be split into five new states. It says nothing about splitting apart from the United States. Only Congress has the power to admit new states to the Union, which last occurred in 1959 with the admission of Alaska and Hawaii, the Tribune notes. 

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The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia put the issue to rest when he was asked by a screenwriter in 2006 whether there was a legal basis for secession.

“The answer is clear,” Scalia wrote. “If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede. (Hence, in the Pledge of Allegiance, ‘one Nation, indivisible.’)”

Fair Fight, the once-powerful voting rights group founded by two-time failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams in Georgia, is laying off nearly all of its staff amid continuing struggles with millions in debt, according to a report earlier this week.

Fair Fight, which played a pivotal role in recent Democrat victories in the state by helping boost voter turnout, has racked up massive legal bills from its court battles pertaining to voting rights, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

As a result, around 75% of its staff will be cut, which includes slashing its grassroots organizing, voting rights, fundraising and media efforts, as well as cutting back on the use of outside consultants and vendors.

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Lauren Groh-Wargo, the former campaign manager for Abrams’ unsuccessful bid to unseat Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in 2022, told the AJC that she would be returning to the group as its interim leader in a “restructuring” effort in the face of its $2.5 million in debt and only $1.9 million on hand.

Additionally, Salena Jegede, Fair Fight’s board chair, told the AJC that slower fundraising, coupled with increasing litigation costs had left the group with a “serious funding deficit that makes our current trajectory unsustainable.”

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“While we are disappointed by these realities, we are not discouraged,” Jegede told the outlet. “We will adapt to this new phase of the fight for democracy by restructuring the organization to focus on how we serve Georgia and American voters for the 2024 cycle and beyond.”

Abrams founded Fair Fight in 2018 to address alleged voter suppression in the wake of her first loss to Kemp. The group’s operation expanded in 2019 to include a political arm in the form of Fair Fight PAC.

It played an outsized role in President Biden’s victory in the state in 2020, as well as those of Democrat Sens. John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who were both elected in tight runoff races in Jan. 2021.

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Fair Fight most notably challenged Georgia’s 2021 voting law aimed at ensuring election integrity, something Abrams frequently referred to as “Jim Crow 2.0.” Its suit against the law was ultimately unsuccessful, and the group was ordered to pay a quarter million dollars in legal costs by a federal court last year.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Fair Fight for comment.

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

Fifty-nine House Democrats joined Republicans to pass a bill to deport illegal immigrants caught driving under the influence on Thursday.

The measure passed 274-150 with mainly GOP votes. One hundred fifty Democrats voted against it.

“In the United States, someone dies in a crash with an impaired driver every 45 minutes. I lost two of my young newlywed constituents to an illegal immigrant driving under the influence of alcohol,” Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., who introduced the bill, told Fox News Digital.

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The bill would make people who were charged with a DUI and are in the U.S. illegally automatically eligible for deportation and permanently inadmissible.

Just last month, an undocumented migrant from El Salvador who had been deported four times was accused of killing a mother and son in a car crash that police said involved alcohol.

Republicans have long pushed for stricter immigration and border security measures, but the issues have taken on a particular urgency this year as polls show likely 2024 voters being increasingly concerned about the state of both.

President Biden has recently ramped up his rhetoric on the border as well, recently pledging to “shut” the U.S.-Mexico border if granted the ability in legislation that Senate and White House negotiators are currently working toward.

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Meanwhile, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has made the border a central focus of his since taking the gavel in October. He led a delegation of more than 60 House Republicans to Eagle Pass, Texas, and has repeatedly hammered Biden over policies Johnson said have fueled the migrant crisis.

House GOP leaders are also expected to hold a chamber-wide vote on impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has been involved in the Senate-White House talks over the border.

The White House and its allies have accused Republicans of playing politics with the border and insisted that the crisis must be fixed by Johnson approving more funding and authority for the president.

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“They don’t want to solve the problem, they want to keep the problem going as a campaign issue,” Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said during debate of the DUI bill. “So don’t come up here and talk about the problems on the southern border if you won’t give the president any means to deal with it.”

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Moore argued, “They made it a campaign issue when Biden came in on day one.” He accused Biden of fueling the border crisis by repealing Trump administration policies like Remain In Mexico.

“Biden has every tool in the tool box to shut the southern border down… we don’t need more money, we need to apply the laws that are on the books,” Moore said.