NationalWatch

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded to former President Trump’s allegations he is a “Democrat plant” and would be a “wasted protest vote,” challenging the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to a debate. 

“When frightened men take to social media they risk descending into vitriol, which makes them sound unhinged,” Kennedy wrote in an X post on Saturday afternoon. “President Trump’s rant against me is a barely coherent barrage of wild and inaccurate claims that should best be resolved in the American tradition of presidential debate. President Trump, who has proven himself the most adept debater in modern American political history, should not be panicked to meet me on that stage.” 

RFK Jr. said he will prove Trump “betrayed the hopes of his most sincere followers,” arguing the former president “promised to end the Ukraine war and then colluded with Speaker Johnson and President Biden to fund it.” Kennedy Jr. also said Trump “let Big Pharma and his corrupt bureaucrats run roughshod over him as President,” and “promised to cut the deficit and ran up the biggest debt in history.”

“He promised to run the government like a business and then closed down our businesses. He promised to drain the swamp and then filled his administration with swamp creatures,” RFK Jr. said. “He promised to protect our rights and then torpedoed the Constitution.”

TRUMP ACCUSES RFK JR. OF BEING A ‘DEMOCRAT PLANT’ AND ‘WASTED PROTEST VOTE’

“Instead of lobbing poisonous bombs from the safety of his bunker, let’s hear President Trump defend his record to me mano-a-mano by respectful, congenial debate,” Kennedy concluded.

Trump’s 2020 campaign notably called out Biden’s “bunker” strategy, condemning how the Democrat largely stayed away from the campaign trail and ducked the public eye while running for president. 

Kennedy’s challenge came after Trump blasted the independent presidential candidate on TRUTH Social.

“RFK Jr. is a Democrat ‘Plant,’ a Radical Left Liberal who’s been put in place in order to help Crooked Joe Biden, the Worst President in the History of the United States, get Re-Elected,” Trump wrote in a series of posts earlier Saturday. “A Vote for Junior’ would essentially be a WASTED PROTEST VOTE, that could swing either way, but would only swing against the Democrats if Republicans knew the true story about him.”

RFK JR.’S RUNNING MATE AN ‘UNKNOWN QUANTITY’ WITH ‘DEEP POCKETS’ AS GOP, DEMS FEAR SPOILER CAMPAIGN: EXPERTS

Trump charged that RFK Jr. “is totally Anti-Gun, an Extreme Environmentalist who makes the Green New Scammers look Conservative, a Big Time Taxer and Open Border Advocate, and Anti-Military/Vet.” 

“His Radicalized Family will never allow him to be a Republican, and his Chief ‘Funder’ is the V.P. Candidate that nobody ever heard of, except her ex-husband, who’s been stripped of a big chunk of cash,” Trump continued, taking a swipe at Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan. 

Trump said that while living in New York at the same time as Kennedy, he watched the former Democrat convince former Gov. Andrew Cuomo “to make environmental moves that were outright NASTY,” noting that upstate New York “was not allowed to drill or frack as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and others ripped off New York Energy,” causing energy costs in upstate New York and New England to skyrocket. 

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“His Views on Vaccines are FAKE, as is everything else about his Candidacy. Let the Democrats have RFK Jr. They deserve him!” Trump said. 

Democrats are not seeing eye to eye on whether the party has a problem with antisemitism ahead of the November general election. 

“It’s easy to call out people with Tiki torches saying ‘Jews will not replace us’ or the former president saying ‘very fine people on both sides,’ Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., said in a statement to Fox News Digital, referencing a rally with White supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. 

“However, when Democrats look inward and see ‘go back to Poland’ or ‘kill the Zionists,’ they pretend the antisemitic rhetoric on the left isn’t happening, or they are silent,” he added. “And as it turns out, the left and the right have something in common.”

As the war between Israel and terrorist group Hamas has gone on, initially spurred by the latter’s surprise attack on innocent civilians on Oct. 7, acts of antisemitism have been observed more often in the U.S. 

DEM SENATE CANDIDATE ELISSA SLOTKIN’S ‘SMALL CONSULTING BUSINESS’ MAY HAVE NEVER BEEN ACTIVE

The Anti-Defamation League reported that U.S. antisemitic assaults in the three months following the October attack in Israel shot up, surpassing the totals for entire years in the past. 

The ADL said 3,291 assaults happened between Oct. 7 and Jan. 7. In 2022, 3,697 assaults occurred over the course of the entire year. The totals for each of the last 10 years, except for 2022, were less than that three-month period following the beginning of Israel’s war with Hamas. 

This month, anti-Israel and antisemitic demonstrations rapidly expanded at top-tier universities, with a Gaza solidarity encampment that is persisting at Columbia University inspiring many of its higher education counterparts to take over their respective campuses, disrupt school activity, and intimidate Jewish students. 

A rabbi at the New York school ultimately reccommended Columbia Jewish students return home to ensure their own safety.

While many Republican lawmakers have been quick to call out the demonstrations, Democrats have more often been quiet, and they have also been measured in their responses and calls for action from schools and police. 

Some Democrats have even supported the encampment at Columbia, such as Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who recently visited students involved in the protest. 

TOP SENATE DEM CALLS FOR PROBE INTO MUSLIMS PROSECUTED BY DOJ FOR ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSINGS

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has additionally discouraged the use of police enforcement against such demonstrations. 

Rachel Rosen, the chief communications officer for the group Democratic Majority for Israel, told Fox News Digital, “Antisemitism is emanating from the far left and the far right.”

However, she said, “President Biden has forcefully condemned antisemitism and defended Israel.”

JEWISH DEMOCRAT CALLS OUT BERNIE SANDERS OVER OPPOSITION TO ISRAEL AID: ‘NOW DO ANTISEMITISM’

She added, “We’re still waiting for GOP leaders to condemn Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ‘Jewish space lasers,’ the Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina’s Holocaust denialism and Donald Trump’s disgraceful trafficking in antisemitic tropes and dining with an actual Nazi.” 

“Donald Trump regularly demeans Jewish Americans, dines with White nationalists, and said Adolf Hitler ‘did some good things,'” agreed Eric Schultz, senior advisor to former President Barack Obama. “Most Jewish voters support President Biden and that is because he has shown steadfast support for the Jewish people, especially with antisemitism on the rise.”

The White House didn’t provide comment on whether the Democratic Party has a problem with antisemitism to Fox News Digital in time for publication. 

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., who has emerged as a vocal advocate of Israel, was quick to say the party does have such a problem: “The far left, clearly. And that seems to manifest itself especially on the college campuses,” he said. 

According to Fetterman, the Democrats can grapple with the issue “by calling it out,” which he noted he has been doing. However, he said he wasn’t going to give his colleagues advice on how to do so.

“I’m not aware of it,” Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said when asked by Fox News Digital if the Democrats had an issue with antisemitism within the party. “But if there is, I’d be concerned.”

Tester is campaigning for re-election in Montana, which is poised to be one of the most competitive races in the country, rating as a “Toss Up” by non-partisan political handicapper the Cook Political Report. 

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., shared with Fox News Digital that he doesn’t believe there is an issue among Democrats with antisemitism. “I don’t believe there are antisemites among Democrats in the United States Congress,” he said, noting that he couldn’t possibly know the beliefs of every individual Democratic voter. 

HELP CHAIRMAN BERNIE SANDERS AVOIDS AGREEING TO CAMPUS ANTISEMITISM HEARINGS

“People often say things that may be misconstrued,” he explained. “And sometimes they say things that are offensive. But I don’t believe deep in their hearts people in the United States Congress hate Jews.”

Several Democrats, prompted as to whether there is specifically an issue on the left, avoided answering, instead condemning antisemitism in general. 

“As the co-founder of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, I’ve been working across the aisle to fight the scourge of antisemitism wherever it rears its ugly head, regardless of political party or ideology,” Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., said in a statement to Fox News Digital. Rosen is the only Jewish woman in the Senate. 

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., similarly emphasized in a statement, “Antisemitism has no place in our country and I condemn this hate in no uncertain terms.” 

The women each face their own competitive re-election battles in Nevada and Wisconsin in November. 

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., didn’t answer whether there was a problem within the party, but noted he felt badly for students across the country who are having school and graduation ceremonies potentially interrupted amid the hysteria of the demonstrations. 

GOP LAWMAKERS DEMAND BIDEN ADMIN PROSECUTE ‘PRO-TERRORIST MOBS,’ HOLD SCHOOLS ACCOUNTABLE

The question was also sidestepped by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., whose office directed Fox News Digital instead to recent legislation he introduced to address antisemitism on college campuses. 

Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., pointed to his statement denouncing “hateful, antisemitic harassment and intimidation” at Columbia, without commenting on the party’s potential antisemitism concern. 

Robert Shapiro, a political science professor at Columbia University explained that “The problem for the Democrats – Biden in particular, is not antisemitism.”

Instead, the issue they face is “how to deal with Israel and how to deal with the protests, especially in terms of the general disruption to society for which Biden and the Democrats may be held accountable, ultimately, in the 2024 election.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the highest ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S., did not provide comment in time for publication.  

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Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio and Bob Casey, D-Penn., who face tough re-election contests in November, also didn’t provide comments.

Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Mark Warner, and Reps. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., were additionally reached out to by Fox News Digital. 

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas raised a question Thursday that goes to the heart of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s charges against former President Donald Trump.

The high court was considering Trump’s argument that he is immune from prosecution for actions he took while president, but another issue is whether Smith and the Office of Special Counsel have the authority to bring charges at all.

“Did you, in this litigation, challenge the appointment of special counsel?” Thomas asked Trump attorney John Sauer on Thursday during a nearly three-hour session at the Supreme Court.

Sauer replied that Trump’s attorneys had not raised that concern “directly” in the current Supreme Court case — in which justices are considering Trump’s arguments that presidential immunity precludes the prosecution of charges that the former president illegally sought to overturn the 2020 election.

Sauer told Thomas that, “we totally agree with the analysis provided by Attorney General Meese [III] and Attorney General Mukasey.” 

SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH HITS BACK AT JUDGE FOR ‘FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED LEGAL PREMISE’ IN TRUMP DOCUMENTS CASE

“It points to a very important issue here because one of [the special counsel’s] arguments is, of course, that we should have this presumption of regularity. That runs into the reality that we have here an extraordinary prosecutorial power being exercised by someone who was never nominated by the president or confirmed by the Senate at any time. So we agree with that position. We hadn’t raised it yet in this case when this case went up on appeal,” Sauer said.

In a 42-page amicus brief presented to the high court in March, Meese and Mukasey questioned whether “Jack Smith has lawful authority to undertake the ‘criminal prosecution'” of Trump. Mukasey and Meese — both former U.S. attorneys general — said Smith and the Office of Special Counsel itself have no authority to prosecute, in part because he was never confirmed by the Senate to any position.

Federal prosecutions, “can be taken only by persons properly appointed as federal officers to properly created federal offices,” Meese and Mukasey argued. “But neither Smith nor the position of special counsel under which he purportedly acts meets those criteria. He wields tremendous power, effectively answerable to no one, by design. And that is a serious problem for the rule of law — whatever one may think of former President Trump or the conduct on January 6, 2021, that Smith challenges in the underlying case.”

TRUMP ATTORNEY, SUPREME COURT JUSTICE CLASH ON WHETHER A PRESIDENT WHO ‘ORDERED’ A ‘COUP’ COULD BE PROSECUTED

The crux of the problem, according to Meese, is that Smith was never confirmed by the Senate as a U.S. attorney, and no other statute allows the U.S. attorney general to name merely anyone as special counsel. Smith was acting U.S. attorney for a federal district in Tennessee in 2017, but he was never nominated to the position. He resigned from the private sector after then-President Trump nominated a different prosecutor as U.S. attorney for the middle district of Tennessee.

Meese and Mukasey argued that because the special counsel exercises broad authority to convene grand juries and make prosecutorial decisions, independent of the White House or the attorney general, he is far more powerful than any government officer who has not been confirmed by the Senate. 

Sauer and Trump’s other attorneys objected to the legitimacy of Smith’s appointment in the charges against Trump in the classified documents case, also brought by Smith, before a Florida federal court. 

In a March court filing in Florida, Trump’s attorneys claimed that the special counsel’s office argues in federal court that Smith is wholly independent of the White House and Garland — contradicting Trump’s arguments that the federal charges against him are politically motivated. But at the same time, the special counsel’s attorneys insist that Smith is subordinate to the attorney general, and therefore not subject to Senate confirmation under the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

SPECIAL COUNSEL IN TRUMP CASE UNCONSTITUTIONAL, FORMER REAGAN AG SAYS

“There is significant tension between the Office’s assurances to that court that Smith is independent, and not prosecuting the Republican nominee for President at the direction of the Biden Administration, and the Office’s assurance here that Smith is not independent and is instead so thoroughly supervised and accountable to President Biden and Attorney General Garland that this Court should not be concerned about such tremendous power being exercised to alter the trajectory of the ongoing presidential election,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in the filing.

The special counsel’s office, responding to Trump’s claims in the Florida case, argued that the attorney general “has the statutory authority to appoint a Special Prosecutor” and that the Supreme Court even upheld that authority “in closely analogous circumstances nearly 50 years ago” — in a 1974 case that challenged the prosecutor investigating the late President Richard Nixon. 

Meese and Mukasey wrote in their brief that the Nixon case was irrelevant because it “concerned the relationship between the President and DOJ as an institution, not between the President and any specific actor purportedly appointed by DOJ.” 

The pair also said special counsel investigations are necessary and often lawful, but stated that “the Attorney General cannot appoint someone never confirmed by the Senate, as a substitute United States Attorney under the title ‘Special Counsel.’ Smith’s appointment was thus unlawful, as are all actions flowing from it, including his prosecution of former President Trump.”

Smith was a private citizen when Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed him as special counsel to investigate Trump in 2022. 

Other recent special counsels — including John Durham’s Trump-Russia probe; David Weiss of the Hunter Biden investigation; and Robert Hur, who investigated Biden’s mishandling of classified documents — were all confirmed by the Senate to various positions before being named as special counsels. 

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The Florida court has yet to rule on Trump’s motion to dismiss the classified documents case due to claims that Smith was improperly appointed. 

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on Trump’s immunity arguments before its term ends in June.

Washington, D.C., chooses its wars. And, for now, leaders in Washington have decided the U.S. has a vested interest in the war in Ukraine.

After months of consternation, lawmakers eventually approved $62 billion for Ukraine to fight Russia in recent weeks, with most Democrats endorsing American assistance. 

But Congress only dislodged the money after a lengthy push by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. President Biden, McConnell and others finally pushed House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to support the aid, even though most House Republicans opposed it. The Senate OK’d a combination foreign aid package a few days later, 79-18. Only 31 of the Senate’s 49 GOP members voted yes.

Tucked into that package was money for Israel, another conflict in which the U.S. has infused itself, thanks to the votes of bipartisan lawmakers.

THE HOUSE IS PRACTICALLY FUNCTIONING AS A PARLIAMENT, WITH MIKE JOHNSON AS ITS ‘PRIME MINISTER’

A not-so-subtle reminder of how Washington immerses itself into overseas conflicts came the other day following the death of Alfonso Chardy. Chardy was a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Miami Herald and helped untangle and expose the Iran-Contra Affair in the mid-1980s. That was a decision by the Reagan administration to involve itself in proxy wars in Central America under the guise of fighting the spread of communism during the Cold War. There was worry about increasing Soviet influence in the Western Hemisphere.

Leftist Sandinistas grabbed power in Nicaragua in the late 1970s. Congress sent money to the Contra rebels to support them in the civil war. But lawmakers began restricting money to the Contras in the early 1980s before eliminating all funding.

Reagan administration officials found a creative — albeit illegal way — to go around Congress.

The U.S. would covertly sell weapons to Iran in an effort to curry favor with Tehran to release western hostages held in the Middle East. The proceeds from those arms sales benefited the Contras to wage their battles against the Sandinistas.

Congress may have decided against getting involved in Nicaragua. But Washington as a whole picked that particular fight, making sure the U.S. was fighting through a proxy in Central America.

Fast-forward several decades, when the U.S. made a decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003. Congress voted in the fall of 2002 to approve the operation, but few lawmakers defend the entirety of that conflict today.

That was the thesis of a floor speech from Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, perhaps the most ardent opponent in Congress against sending assistance to Ukraine.

“In 2003, I was a high school senior and I had a political position,” declared Vance, speaking about his time finishing high school in Middletown, Ohio, and enlisting in the Marine Corps. “Back then, I believed the propaganda of the George W. Bush administration that we needed to invade Iraq.”

Vance later said arguments about helping Ukraine “sound familiar.”

TRUMP DEMANDS EUROPE COUGH UP MORE CASH FOR UKRAINE, SAYS WAR WITH RUSSIA WOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED ON HIS WATCH

“It’s the same exact talking points 20 years later with different names,” said Vance. “I saw when I went to Iraq that I had been lied to. That the promises of the foreign policy establishment of this country were a complete joke.”

Vance called the push for war in Iraq “perhaps the most shameful period in the Republican Party’s history of the last 40 years.”

Vance added that his “excuse” for backing the war in Iraq “is that I was a high school senior. What is the excuse of many people who are in this chamber or in the House of Representatives at the time and are now singing the same song when it comes to Ukraine?”

The answer is that America’s leaders are committed to helping Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.

BUTTIGIEG DEFENDS BIDEN CONFUSING UKRAINE AND IRAQ TWICE IN 2 DAYS: ‘VERY FOCUSED ON DETAILS’

History will bear out who is right or wrong on this front. Just the same as history has judged U.S. involvement in Central America against Soviet influences or by seeking war in Iraq. Remember that the foreign aid package includes money for Israel. Congressional Republicans were more comfortable assisting Israel than some liberals.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was one of the most outspoken opponents of sending U.S. dollars to Israel.

“Put simply, we are deeply complicit in what is happening. This is not an Israeli war. This is an Israeli-American war. Most of the bombs and most of the military equipment the Israeli government is using is provided by the United States and subsidized by American taxpayers,” said Sanders. “We are aiding and abetting the destruction of the Palestinian people.”

Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., also opposed the legislation in the House.

SQUAD DEMOCRATS PUSH ISRAEL AID PACKAGE AMENDMENT IN FAILED CEASE-FIRE EFFORT: ‘DEATH WARRANT ON PALESTINIANS’

“This bill passed today is a death warrant. A death warrant on Palestinians,” said Bush. “Apparently, it means that Palestinians are not as valued. That their lives are not as valuable as Israeli lives. And I have to say this, for those that feel that way, shame on you.”

Back on Ukraine, it was clear McConnell prevailed. Perhaps it’s one of his last major policy achievements as Republican leader. McConnell didn’t call out Vance by name. But it was clear who he was targeting in an impassioned floor speech.

“So much of the hesitation and shortsightedness that has delayed this moment is premised on sheer fiction,” said McConnell. “I take no pleasure in rebutting misguided fantasies. I wish sincerely that recognizing the responsible ideas of American leadership was the price of admission for serious conversation about the future of our national security.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., echoed his counterpart.

“Getting this done was one of the greatest achievements the Senate has faced in years. Perhaps decades. A lot of people inside and outside the Congress wanted this package to fail,” said Schumer.

“I think we’ve turned the corner on the isolationist movement,” observed McConnell. “You could argue that this is a more challenging time right now than it was leading up to World War II. I don’t want it to take something like the Pearl Harbor attack to get our attention.”

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The U.S. sat on the sidelines as Adolph Hitler ran roughshod through Europe in the 1930s and early 1940s. The U.S. only got involved after the Japanese bombed Pearl Habor and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a plea to America during a Joint Session of Congress just after Christmas in 1941.

America chooses its wars; America has chosen its wars in Ukraine and Israel.

History will judge whether those were the right decisions.

Florida GOP Rep. Bill Posey announced Friday that he would not be seeking re-election, joining a slew of other GOP lawmakers also not seeking re-election. 

“It has been the greatest honor of Katie’s and my life to represent you in Congress. And, polls suggest that because of YOUR support, I could remain in the job forever, and we were looking forward to another spirited campaign for a final term in office,” Posey said in a statement released. “However, earlier this week circumstances beyond my control now require me to suspend my re-election campaign.”

“I will continue to devote all possible resources to continue representing you through the end of my current term, helping President Donald Trump return to the oval office, and supporting former Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos, in whom I have the greatest trust and confidence, to take up my battles against the swamp and replace me as your Congressman,” Posey continued in the statement. 

HOUSE REPUBLICANS EYE CRACKDOWN ON FAMILY-SPONSORED IMMIGRATION

The GOP representative then shared his endorsement of former Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos. Haridopolos announced his campaign on Friday, thanking Posey in a Facebook post announcing his run. 

“For many years, Mike has served as my Congressional Finance Committee Chairman, while I have mentored him to replace me. Mike was, and remains, my first choice to represent you, me, and our district in Congress,” Posey said in the statement.

EX-HOUSE REPUBLICAN WHO VOTED TO IMPEACH TRUMP DROPS MICHIGAN SENATE BID

“Without going into a lot of personal details, stars aligned during the past week, and Mike decided he was ready for Congress. I enthusiastically endorse him and will do everything I can to help him get elected,” he continued. 

“I wish to thank our incredible Congressman Bill Posey for his faithful service to our  community, state, and nation. I will work every day to live up to his legacy of service and serve the people of District 8 with integrity and honor,” Haridopolos said in a statement to Space Coast Daily upon his announcement. 

Posey was first elected to Congress in 2008 and worked in the Florida State Legislature for 18 years prior. The Florida Republican was a supporter of former President Donald Trump. 

He recently voted against the foreign aid package supported by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson as well as the FISA renewal earlier this month. 

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“Our nation is facing an unprecedented border security crisis and a crippling national debt putting undue strain on our cities and jeopardizing the safety and security of Americans,” Posey said in a statement after voting against the foreign aid package. “Defending our borders and balancing our budget should be THE top priority in Washington. I’ve voted against 99% of all spending over the past four years because those bills failed to secure our border. The American people expect Washington to put America first.”

President Biden faced a wave of criticism on Friday — from media outlets and commentators — for stretching the truth during a rare live interview with radio host Howard Stern.

During his interview with Stern, Biden spoke about an array of subjects, including a debate with former President Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election and the time he “got arrested” as a teenager at a Delaware desegregation protest.

Some of the claims made by the president during the hour-long interview, however, faced scrutiny from the national media and certain individuals in the political realm who have become accustomed to Biden’s habit of straying from the truth.

As he has done in the past, Biden recounted during his interview with Stern what his mother had supposedly told him about accepting then-Sen. Barack Obama’s invitation to serve as his running mate in the 2008 presidential election.

BIDEN SKEWERED FOR FALSELY CLAIMING TO BE THE FIRST IN HIS FAMILY TO GO TO COLLEGE: ‘PATHOLOGICAL LIAR’

Biden recounted: “She said, ‘Remember when they were desegregating Lynnfield, the neighborhood … suburbia — and I told you — and there was a Black family moving in and there was — people were down there protesting; I told you not to go down there, and you went down, remember that? And you got arrested standing on the porch with a Black family? And they brought you back, the police?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, Mom, I remember that.’”

The New York Times, which took aim at President Biden on Thursday for “actively and effectively” avoiding journalists’ questions during his first term in office, reported Friday that Biden “appeared to once again stretch the truth about being arrested at a Delaware desegregation protest as a teenager.”

“There is no evidence that he was ever arrested at a civil-rights protest,” the Times added.

CNN also piled on Biden’s claim, noting in a fact check that there is “no evidence Biden ever got arrested during a civil rights protest, as the Washington Post and PolitiFact found when they looked into this claim in 2022 – and Biden has at least twice told the story of his supposed presence at this particular Delaware protest without mentioning any arrest, instead claiming that the police merely took him home that day.”

Biden also faced criticism from CNN earlier this week after he “revived a debunked tale about his past — his fictional claim that he used to drive an 18-wheeler truck,” during a campaign event in Florida this week.

Fact-checking the president’s claim, CNN wrote: “Biden has repeatedly embellished or invented biographical tidbits. In 2021, he claimed during a tour of a Mack Trucks facility: ‘I used to drive an 18-wheeler, man,’ then added, ‘I got to.’ At a separate 2021 event, he told college students studying truck technology, ‘I used to drive a tractor-trailer,’ adding, ‘I only did it for part of a summer, but I got my license anyway.'”

“Biden’s claim remains untrue. There is no evidence he ever drove an 18-wheeler,” the outlet added of his Tuesday remarks.

Biden also faced backlash for embellishing the truth from individuals on social media, including Greg Price, a popular conservative X user and the communications director for the State Freedom Caucus Network.

BIDEN’S FALSE CANNIBAL STORY DESCRIBED AS A SIMPLE ‘MISSTATEMENT,’ ‘OFF ON THE DETAILS’ BY THE MEDIA

Price noted a number of questionable remarks made by Biden during his interview with Stern that he believes are “lies,” including a tale he told about saving “half a dozen” lives during his past tenure as a lifeguard and the arrest he suffered amid civil rights protests when he was a teenager.

Another suspected “lie” was Biden’s claim that he was “runner-up in state scoring” in football during his high school years.

Price’s post on social media also referenced a claim made by Biden about receiving “salacious pictures” from women in the 1970s during his time as a senator, which he gave to the Secret Service.

“I got put in that ten most eligible bachelors list … and a lot of lovely women… would send very salacious pictures, and I’d just give them to the Secret Service. I thought somebody would think I was —,” Biden told Stern before shifting topics.

It’s unclear how the Secret Service would have been involved. Senators do not receive Secret Service protection, and Biden didn’t receive Secret Service protection until 2008, when he was elected vice president.

Others also took aim at the president for his remarks on Stern’s show.

“Another day, another Biden lie … at least no one got eaten by cannibals in this one,” conservative commentator Rita Panahi wrote in a post on X.

Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro, co-host of “The Five,” also weighed in on Biden’s “lies,” questioning Friday how Biden can debate if “he can’t even keep his lies straight.”

Earlier this month, during a visit to a war memorial near his hometown in Pennsylvania, Biden faced criticism for appearing to imply that his uncle was eaten by cannibals after his plane was shot down during World War II.

“He flew single-engine planes, reconnaissance flights over New Guinea. He had volunteered because someone couldn’t make it. He got shot down in an area where there were a lot of cannibals in New Guinea at the time,” Biden said at the time. “They never recovered his body.”

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre later acknowledged that Biden’s maternal uncle, Ambrose Finnegan, whom he refers to as “Uncle Bosie,” did die in WWII when his plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean, but confirmed he was not eaten by cannibals, as Biden seemed to suggest on two separate occasions during his visit to the state.

Former Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Mich., announced Friday evening that he had dropped out of the race to represent Michigan in the U.S. Senate.

“I got into this race because I believed I had the strongest chance of winning in November to work to right this ship and reverse trendlines that have only gotten worse over these past months,” Meijer, whose family founded the Meijer supermarket chain, said in a statement posted on X.

“The hard reality is the fundamentals of the race have changed significantly since we launched this campaign,” he continued. “After prayerful consideration, today I withdrew my name from the primary ballot. Without a strong pathway to victory, continuing this campaign only increases the likelihood of a divisive primary that would distract from the essential goal — conservative victories in November.”

Meijer, who represented Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District from 2021 to 2023 and lost his re-election bid to a GOP challenger in the state’s 2022 Republican primary election, was one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, protests at the U.S. Capitol.

TRUMP-BACKED GOP SENATE CANDIDATE AIMS TO FLIP DEM-HELD SEAT IN CRUCIAL BATTLEGROUND STATE

Shortly after Meijer released the statement, Trump took to Truth Social and congratulated “all Good Republicans” and insisted “the 10 Impeachers are just about gone.”

“Peter Meijer, one of the 10 Impeachers of your Favorite President, ME, and someone thought of to have a very good political future, has just withdrawn from the Senate Race in the Great State of Michigan,” the former president wrote. “Once he raised his very little and delicate hand to Impeach President Trump, his Political Career was OVER!”

“Last time he lost in the Primary to a nice, but unknown, person, and now he lost to a GREAT Candidate, Mike Rogers, who will easily WIN the Nomination, and go on to WIN the Senate, BIG, in Michigan,” Trump added. “Happily, the 10 Impeachers are just about gone.”

The two remaining Republicans who voted to impeach Trump that remain in office are Reps. Dan Newhouse of Washington and David Valadao of California.

DEM SENATE CANDIDATE ELISSA SLOTKIN’S ‘SMALL CONSULTING BUSINESS’ MAY HAVE NEVER BEEN ACTIVE

The other eight — Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Tom Rice of South Carolina and Fred Upton of Michigan — either retired from Congress or were defeated in their respective primary elections.

Trump noted in his post on Truth Social that he believes Newhouse “will be next” to lose re-election.

“Newhouse, in Washington State, will be next – VOTE FOR JERROD SESSLER,” Trump wrote.

There are now ten Republicans, including former Michigan Reps. Mike Rogers and Justin Amash, who are seeking their party’s nomination for the position in the upper chamber to replace retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

Rogers, who is currently the favored Republican candidate in the race and has received support from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, will likely face off against another popular Michigan politician if he wins the state’s primary election and moves on to the general election.

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Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., is currently the highest polling Democrat seeking the position, outpacing her top challenger in the race, actor Hill Harper.

Former President Donald Trump is speaking out aggressively against independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who he claims is a Democratic Party “plant.”

Trump made the accusations on Friday night via his proprietary social media platform, Truth Social.

“RFK Jr. is a Democrat “Plant,” a Radical Left Liberal who’s been put in place in order to help Crooked Joe Biden, the Worst President in the History of the United States, get Re-Elected,” Trump wrote.

RFK JR ‘DISTURBED’ BY ‘WEAPONIZATION OF GOVERNMENT’ AGAINST TRUMP, VOWS TO APPOINT JAN 6 SPECIAL COUNSEL

He continued, “A Vote for Junior’ would essentially be a WASTED PROTEST VOTE, that could swing either way, but would only swing against the Democrats if Republicans knew the true story about him.”

Trump hammered Kennedy on his record regarding Second Amendment rights, border security, and more in the rant.

“Junior’ is totally Anti-Gun, an Extreme Environmentalist who makes the Green New Scammers look Conservative, a Big Time Taxer and Open Border Advocate, and Anti-Military/Vet[.]”

KENNEDY FAMILY CHOOSES POLITICS OVER FAMILY WITH ENDORSEMENT IN 2024 PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Democratic leaders have expressed parallel concerns that RFK Jr’s campaign may siphon voters from their own camp, making the independent candidate unpopular with both parties’ establishment.

Half a dozen Kennedy family members appeared alongside President Biden at an event in Philadelphia to publicly back him over Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is driving Democrats to panic that his independent White House bid could lead to a victory for former President Donald Trump.

“President Biden has been a champion for all the rights and freedoms that my father and uncles stood for,” RFK Jr’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, said during the event, referencing the late former President John F. Kennedy, the late former U.S. Attorney General and New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and the late former Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy.

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Last month, the Democratic National Committee launched an effort to silence the threat to Biden’s re-election from third-party candidates, namely Kennedy, in the form of a team that is expected to actively combat them with legal challenges and opposition research.

Since its inception, members of the team post near constant criticism of RFK Jr. on social media, and have frequently referred to him as a “spoiler” candidate. They have also claimed Kennedy is in cahoots with Trump in order to help him win.

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

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. — As Border Patrol agents work to combat the movement of illegal immigrants across the southern border in the El Paso Sector, they say a multi-layered enforcement system that has been expanded in recent years and combines the use of barriers with technology and other forms of enforcement has helped thwart cartel smuggling operations and nab illegal immigrants moving into the U.S.

Wall/Fencing

Overshadowing the border in Sunland Park, New Mexico, is miles of border wall. Some of it is border fence built during the Obama administration, while other parts consist of Trump-era bollard wall. 

Fox News Digital was on the ground when agents nabbed illegal immigrants just feet from the fence they had cut a hole through. Even though they got through, it gave agents time to apprehend them. Agents generally prefer the bollard fencing, saying it is harder to cut through. And other parts of the fencing have been reinforced with bollards and, in some cases, filled with concrete.

CAUGHT ON CAMERA: FENCE-CUTTING MIGRANTS BUSTED BY FEDS

However, critics of barriers have noted that barriers are not a fix by themselves. Barriers, even those with bollards and filled with concrete, can be cut through. And strewn along the border were makeshift ladders and ropes, which migrants use to scale the barrier.

Along other parts of the border, wall construction isn’t possible. This is the case on the looming Mount Cristo Rey, a steep area where a wall cannot be built and the U.S.-Mexico border is marked only with obelisks. It is here that other layers of the enforcement strategy come into play.

Autonomous surveillance towers

The Biden administration stopped most border wall construction in 2021, although it has continued to make some repairs and moved forward with construction that had already been appropriated. Overall, however, it has instead emphasized the importance of technology. And in this area, agents say the administration has delivered.

There are now 24 autonomous surveillance towers (AST) in the El Paso Sector, and there are more than 50 deployed in the neighboring Big Bend Sector, officials say. The Biden administration’s fiscal 2025 budget includes an additional $127 million for “modernizing border security technology,” including additional deployments of towers.

The 24-hour-a-day towers, running on renewable energy, work by scanning the environment with radar. They use artificial intelligence to “hand off” from one another. So, if a group moves out of sight of one tower, the neighboring tower picks it up. The use of AST did not start with the Biden administration. It began during the Trump administration, but it has expanded dramatically under the current administration.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

CBP says the technology comes into play even before migrants get into the U.S., allowing agents to plan before anyone even steps foot on U.S. soil. The AI technology can scan faces, differentiate between humans and wildlife and can send immediate alerts to agents in the field on their phones or tablets. It can also identify how many people are in a group. So, if agents are told to look for a group of eight migrants and find only five, they know there’s another three they still have to track down.

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?

The towers have been deployed throughout the border, but here they are especially useful given the treacherous terrain in the mountains. With the towers in place, agents don’t need to chase migrants up the mountain. They can monitor and track them via the towers and wait for the migrants to eventually emerge (often exhausted) on flat land. 

Choppers, agents and K-9s

Should migrants get through the border wall and become spotted by the surveillance towers, they still need to be apprehended. This is where the Border Patrol agents will make the apprehensions. 

But they have assistance. The CBP Canine Unit is headquartered in El Paso, and some Border Patrol agents are trained how to use specially trained dogs to track down migrants and smugglers, in addition to the unit’s roles in other fields throughout CBP’s jurisdiction.

The K-9s can also help apprehend those illegal immigrants who may become violent and try to attack agents. Fox saw Canu, one of the K-9s deployed in Sunland Park, work with his handler as he sniffed the terrain for a possible lead.

SPIKE IN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM THIS US ADVERSARY BLOWS LID OFF PREVIOUS YEAR’S RECORD

Meanwhile, Border Patrol is also aided by helicopters from CBP’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO). They swoop over the mountains to conduct additional surveillance, scaring off migrants who may be planning on making the run across, while also allowing AMO to help with rescues quickly if needed.  

In the fiscal 2025 budget, the administration wants to invest an additional $210 million in staffing, which includes Border Patrol, as well as $86 million for AMO support.

Rescue towers

Another deployment here in El Paso is the use of rescue towers, which allow migrants to press a button to call for help. The 21 towers in the sector warn migrants they are in danger and can call for assistance. The button triggers a sharp blue light on top of the beacon visible by agents miles around.

Fox viewed one rescue tower situated near where there was an infamous case in 2021 of two young girls, 3 and 5, dropped off by a smuggler over the wall. Luckily, agents spotted and rescued them. Other migrants have not been so lucky, and there are plenty of instances of agents coming across dead bodies. These towers are designed to help prevent that.

So far in fiscal 2024, agents in the El Paso Sector have rescued more than 300 migrants, but there have also been 34 migrant deaths.

Cooperation with state officials

While in nearby Texas there has been friction between the federal government and state officials, here in New Mexico, local authorities and CBP are working together. 

New Mexico state law enforcement will coordinate with Border Patrol to stop illegal immigrants coming across. Recently, officials in Dona Ana County announced a partnership to prosecute state offenses committed by smugglers.

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Overall, Border Patrol believe the multi-layered enforcement strategy is working. They point to a sharp decrease in apprehensions over the last year. There were 427,471 in fiscal 2023 by Border Patrol in the sector. So far in fiscal 2024, which began in October, there have been just over 150,000. 

Separately, officials point to the busting of more than 136 stash houses, with over 1,377 smuggled migrants by their interdiction teams so far in fiscal 2024.

High-stakes climate litigation being pursued across the country and worldwide, purportedly on behalf of children, can be traced to a single, left-wing public interest law firm with big-money backing and ties to longtime progressive activists, Fox News Digital has learned.

The Oregon-based firm Our Children’s Trust (OCT), which is classified as a 501(c)(3) public charity, was established more than a decade ago to provide youth with legal services “to secure their legal rights to a safe climate.” Since its founding, OCT has filed multiple federal lawsuits, spearheaded legal actions in all 50 states and is even involved in litigation in Canada, Mexico, Pakistan, India and Uganda.

“These young people are doing exactly what they’ve been taught by elders — when they see a wrong, they take steps to right it,” Mat dos Santos, OCT’s co-executive director and general counsel, said last week.

Dos Santos, who is tasked with overseeing OCT’s legal program, made the comments during a rally outside the White House where activists called for President Biden to take their side in Juliana v. United States, one of several cases the group is pursuing. According to OCT, the plaintiffs in the case are 21 young Americans who are concerned the government has violated their constitutional rights to life, liberty and property.

LEFT-WING CLIMATE GROUP WITH SHADY BACKING TAKES PROMINENT ROLE AGAINST GAS STOVES

OCT filed its complaint in Juliana v. United States in 2015, arguing that the federal government has contributed to global warming for decades, despite being well aware of the cataclysmic impacts of climate change. The lawsuit — which is currently making its way through the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals — takes aim at policies allowing fossil fuel extraction, transportation and combustion.

Days before the White House rally, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., one of the original architects of the Green New Deal, released a podcast with dos Santos and some of the plaintiffs in the case. In the episode, the senior lawmaker lauded the children for “fighting against what preceding generations have done to pollute and to create this problem.”

The group’s growing suite of climate litigation, meanwhile, broadly follows the same format, asserting on behalf of a handful of youth that federal or state agencies are harming their future by allowing fossil fuel reliance. 

BIDEN ADMIN PRESSURED SNOPES TO CHANGE ITS FACT-CHECK RATING ON RUMORED GAS STOVE BAN, INTERNAL EMAILS SHOW

OCT’s most recent lawsuit was filed in December against the Environmental Protection Agency, and its most successful case so far has been Held v. State of Montana, which yielded a favorable judgment last year. The First Judicial District Court of Montana’s ruling, which has since been appealed by the state, struck down certain state laws promoting fossil fuels and concluded youth plaintiffs were harmed by said laws.

“Today, for the first time in U.S. history, a court ruled on the merits of a case that the government violated the constitutional rights of children through laws and actions that promote fossil fuels, ignore climate change, and disproportionately imperil young people,” Julia Olson, OCT’s chief legal counsel and co-executive director, said after the ruling in August 2023.

But, according to a Fox News Digital review of financial filings, career databases and recruitment documents, OCT has attracted the financial backing of major left-wing philanthropic nonprofits and is led by longtime activists. In its 2023 impact report, the group stated it receives pro bono legal support from people affiliated with Earthjustice and Oxfam America, two massive groups involved in climate lawsuits.

OCT also actively recruits children between the ages of 8 and 18 years old to serve as the face of their legal efforts. Children interested in serving as plaintiffs in OCT’s cases are directed to an online interest form, which asks applicants for a wide range of contact information, including their pronouns, and how climate change has impacted them personally.

US ENERGY GIANT SOUNDS ALARM ON BIDEN’S CLIMATE RULES TARGETING POWER PLANTS

“Our Children’s Trust exploits well-intentioned kids, using them as political cover to achieve its goal of shutting down responsible energy development in Montana and around the nation,” said Chase Scheuer, a spokesperson for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen. Knudsen has taken the lead in defending his state’s energy policies in Held v. State of Montana.

“Unable to implement policies through the normal processes of representative government, they are trying to override the will of the people and use the courts to impose their extremist climate agenda,” Scheuer continued.

Overall, OCT reports having more than $5.4 million in net assets and received $2.2 million in financial contributions in 2022 and $3.2 million in contributions a year prior, according to its tax forms. While the group’s donors are hidden from public view, a review of various liberal nonprofits’ tax forms shows the group routinely receives large grants.

For example, in 2022, it received $200,000 from the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation; $100,000 from the Alex C. Walker Foundation; $100,000 from Impact Assets; and donations worth $50,000 from the Jacob & Terese Hershey Foundation and Park Foundation, among others. Those grantmaking nonprofits generally contribute to progressive social and environmental causes.

BIDEN SET TO BLOCK MILLIONS OF ACRES IN ALASKA FROM OIL, GAS DRILLING IN EARTH DAY ACTION

The Amalgamated Foundation, OCT’s apparent largest financier, is the charitable arm of Amalgamated Bank, an operation focused on progressive issues and which is majority-owned and controlled by Workers United, a division of the massive labor union Service Employees International Union (SEIU). 

Under the leadership of its executive director Anna Fink, the Amalgamated Foundation spearheaded a campaign after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot to pressure organizations to divert donations for Republicans to the Amalgamated Foundation instead. That program received backing from George Soros’ Open Society Foundation.

In addition, dos Santos and Olson, OCT’s co-executive directors, have a long history of progressive activism. 

Dos Santos remains on the boards of the Transgender Law Center, Latino Network and the Chosen Family Law Center. He also previously served as legal director of the ACLU’s Oregon chapter, where he advocated for LGBT rights, immigrants and criminal justice reform. Dos Santos notably led a challenge against former President Donald Trump’s immigration actions and represented a transgender inmate demanding the state provide hormone therapy.

And Olson previously served as an attorney at Earthjustice before beginning her own firm, Wild Earth Advocates.

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Other staff and members of OCT’s board of directors have ties to climate-focused organizations such as the Women’s Environmental and Development Organization, Western Environmental Law Center, Food & Water Watch and Columbia University’s Earth Institute.

OCT and the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation didn’t respond to requests for comment.

FIRST ON FOX: The GOP is blasting President Biden’s campaign over an “out-of-touch” memo warning that former President Trump’s re-election could mean the end of one of Washington’s most glamorous traditions.

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner and the days leading up to it are an annual social event, frequently invitation-only, where D.C.’s elite in media, journalism and politics gather for a celebration of the press.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) warned Thursday evening that Trump returning to the White House could put a stop to the festivities.

BIDEN VOWS TO LET TRUMP-ERA TAX CUTS EXPIRE NEXT YEAR, MEANING HIGHER RATES FOR MANY

The Republican National Committee (RNC) on Friday told Fox News Digital in response, “The fact that Joe Biden is pandering to journalists by threatening their annual ego-stroking elites fest is pathetic and out of touch, but it goes to show that Democrats can’t win on the issues.”

“Biden can spend 2024 vacationing in Delaware and rubbing elbows with East Coast elites all he wants, but President Trump and Republicans will continue to talk about the issues that matter and present solutions to Biden’s failures on everything from the economy to the border,” RNC spokesperson Anna Kelly said.

Trump never attended the event as president. He held a rally with supporters in 2019 instead and even prohibited his administration officials from attending, according to Reuters. It was canceled in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

NEW POLL SHOWS BIDEN’S 2024 LEAD VANISHING WITH TRUMP ON TRIAL

Democrats’ Thursday evening statement criticized Trump for shunning the dinner, arguing it was another way Trump was showing contempt for journalists and the First Amendment.

“We hope everyone has a good time this weekend, because if Donald Trump wins in November, this Saturday could also be known as the last White House Correspondents’ Dinner. To state the obvious: Trump is a thin-skinned narcissist who – despite spending seemingly every waking moment glued to his seat consuming cable news – is constantly attacking the free press and unable to handle a little good-natured ribbing,” DNC rapid response director Alex Floyd said.

“He skipped the White House Correspondents’ Dinner every single year he was in office because of his deep-seated insecurities and pathetic desperation to be liked by the same people he rails against, and that was before he outright banned members of his administration from attending at all.

TRUMP ATTORNEY, SUPREME COURT JUSTICE CLASH ON WHETHER A PRESIDENT WHO ‘ORDERED’ A ‘COUP’ COULD BE PROSECUTED

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“Fun and jokes aside this weekend, Saturday is also a reminder of what’s at stake with an angry, vengeful Trump on the ballot. He may be a punchline, but he is also a sad, vindictive wannabe authoritarian who shows no respect for the First Amendment – or the Fourth Estate.”

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

The DNC declined to provide additional comment.

The Biden administration abruptly announced Friday that it will delay regulations banning menthol cigarettes amid widespread opposition to the proposal.

In a statement, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra said his agency would not move to finalize the regulations and pointed to opposition from civil rights activists. Since they were first proposed by the HHS’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the regulations have sparked a contentious debate between health advocates and civil liberties and business groups.

“This rule has garnered historic attention and the public comment period has yielded an immense amount of feedback, including from various elements of the civil rights and criminal justice movement,” Becerra said in a statement. “It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time.”

Initiated 2 years ago

The announcement comes exactly two years after FDA initially proposed the regulations, paving the way for an historic ban on menthol cigarettes that the administration said would be a “critical” piece of President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative. FDA also argued at the time that the ban would broadly “reduce the appeal of cigarettes” and have substantial health impacts.

BIDEN ADMIN FACING CONGRESSIONAL PROBE OVER PROPOSED BAN ON MENTHOL CIGARETTES

FDA ultimately handed the regulations off to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for final approval months ago after a lengthy public comment period. However, officials dragged their feet in moving forward with the regulations and missed multiple self-imposed deadlines to finalize them, igniting concerns among health advocates that the administration may change course.

“Unfortunately, the possibility of this administration making these rules a reality is shrinking with the passage of time, and ACS CAN is calling on the administration to not miss the opportunity to make a historic gain in the fight against cancer,” American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network CEO Karen Knudsen said in a statement on Friday ahead of Becerra’s announcement.

CONSERVATIVE GROUP UNLEASHES 6-FIGURE AD CAMPAIGN TARGETING BIDEN’S MENTHOL CIGARETTE BAN

‘Top priority’

OMB declined to comment and referred Fox News Digital back to Becerra’s statement. 

And an FDA spokesperson said the agency remains committed to issuing tobacco product standards for menthol in cigarettes and characterizing flavors in cigars.

“As we’ve made clear, these product standards remain at the top of our priorities,” the spokesperson said.

During the public comment period, associations representing convenience stores, police, consumers and minority groups warned the administration that a ban on menthol cigarettes could foster an illicit market for the product, while punishing small business owners and minorities who are the largest consumers of the product.

Groups representing minorities, like the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement and the nonprofit National Action Network — the latter of which was founded by civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton — argued that banning menthol cigarettes while not restricting non-menthol cigarettes “puts a microscope on minority communities.” 

BIDEN ADMIN’S PROPOSED MENTHOL CIGARETTE BAN COULD BECOME LIABILITY IN 2024: ‘UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES’

White House meetings

The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement, National Action Network, National Newspaper Publishers Association and civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump met with Becerra, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and White House domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden to discuss the proposal in November, according to White House records.

The White House also convened meetings with other stakeholders, including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Lung Association, and the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS). 

“The USHBC applauds President Biden for his leadership in delaying the menthol ban, recognizing the unintended consequences it would have had on convenience store sales nationwide and the livelihoods of over 600,000 workers,” Javier Palomarez, the president and CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Business Council, told Fox News Digital in a statement.

“Implementing a ban would have not only been ineffective but would also risk disproportionately criminalizing people of color, the very communities where menthol cigarettes are consumed,” Palomarez added. “We are delighted that the President has heard our concerns and we offer ourselves up as a resource to develop a comprehensive approach to public health.”

Dollars and cents

According to NACS, the rule would have led to a reduction of $72,285 a year in non-tobacco sundry sales and $160,107 a year in tobacco product sales for the typical convenience store nationwide. The organization projected that the convenience store industry could have collectively lost $2.16 billion in sales as a result of the regulations. 

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In addition, government watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) said the administration’s actions Friday confirmed its concerns it expressed last week when it sued HHS for withholding documents related to the regulations.

“This announcement appears to confirm the basis for our lawsuit a few weeks ago on the proposed menthol cigarette ban. Public health authorities following the polling rather than the science is not a good look. It’s also a major reason why trust in our public health officials is at an all-time low,” PPT Director Michael Chamberlain said. “This only heightens the need for transparency into what’s really driving decisions at the FDA.”

Former President Trump suggested the White House as the venue for a debate against President Biden, saying he “would be very comfortable.” 

The presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, after hours in a Manhattan courtroom for the eigth day of his criminal trial, has repeatedly said he will debate Biden “anywhere, anytime, anyplace.” 

Biden broke his silence on debating his 2024 opponent on Friday during an interview with radio host Howard Stern. Biden said he would be “happy” to debate Trump. 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN DEMANDS BIDEN DEBATE HIM ‘MUCH EARLIER’ AND MORE OFTEN

“I am, somewhere, I don’t know when,” Biden said, after Stern said he didn’t know whether Biden would participate in a debate. “I’m happy to debate him.” 

Trump, shortly after Biden’s interview, which he did during a visit to New York City Friday, posted to his Truth Social account inviting Biden to debate him at the courthouse in Lower Manhattan. 

“In the alternative, he’s in New York City today, although probably doesn’t know it, and so am I, stuck in one of the many Court cases that he instigated as ELECTION INTERFERENCE AGAINST A POLITICAL OPPONENT – A CONTINUING WITCH HUNT!” Trump posted to Truth Social. “It’s the only way he thinks he can win. In fact, let’s do the Debate at the Courthouse tonight – on National Television, I’ll wait around!” 

Trump, after court ended Friday, came out and reflected on the day of testimony. 

“We sit here day, after day, after day, which is their plan,” Trump said of the Democrats, who he said hope to win the election. “But I doubt it because the poll numbers are very good for us.” 

Trump told reporters he had invited Biden to debate. 

TRUMP CALLS FOR DEBATES WITH BIDEN ‘ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE’

“He can do it anytime he wants, including tonight. He can do it tonight,” Trump said. “I invited him to the courthouse that he has us tied up in. This is a well coordinated attack on a political opponent.” 

Trump added: “But I’m here, I’m ready, willing and able.” 

Trump said “if he wants, I’ll do it on Monday night, Tuesday night and Wednesday night.” 

Trump said Wednesday night he will campaign in Michigan, saying it is a state that Biden “has destroyed because of the auto industry” and said auto jobs are “all going over to China with his ridiculous electric vehicle mandate.” 

“But we’re willing to do it Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night on national television,” Trump said. “We’re ready. Just tell me where.” 

“We’ll do it at the White House,” Trump said. “That would be very comfortable, actually. You tell me where. We’re ready.” 

Trump told reporters that Biden was “obviously not showing up now” to the courthouse.

BIDEN SAYS DEBATING TRUMP ‘DEPENDS ON HIS BEHAVIOR’

“We’ve heard nothing, but he said today he’d love to debate,” Trump said. “But he won’t debate. I don’t think he’ll debate. Maybe he will. Maybe he will. I’m not sure he has a choice.” 

He added: “We’re ready, willing and able. We don’t see him and I don’t think he’ll be here. Maybe next week he’ll do it.” 

“I doubt it,” Trump said. “But maybe next week.” 

Earlier this month, the Trump campaign called for additional 2024 presidential debates and for them to take place “much earlier” than initially proposed by the debate commission. 

Trump, in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital shortly after, said he is “totally committed” to debating President Biden “anytime, anywhere, anyplace.” 

As for Biden, before today, he had not yet committed to debating his opponent. 

When asked last month if he would debate the former president, Biden said it was dependent on Trump’s “behavior.” 

“Depends on his behavior,” Biden said. 

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Earlier this year, Biden addressed previous calls for earlier debates with Trump.

“If I were him, I would want to debate me, too,” Biden told reporters in Nevada when asked about Trump wanting to debate him earlier in the election cycle.

“He’s got nothing else to do,” Biden said.

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:

– Trump urges judge to lift gag order: Live updates from NY v. Trump…

– Terrorist-linked flag seen at Princeton demonstrations: Live updates on anti-Israel unrest…

– Biden makes rare live media appearance on Howard Stern’s show…

Squad members tour anti-Israel demonstrations to express support

New York Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, both members of “The Squad,” were seen Friday mingling with anti-Israel agitators at Columbia University, where “support” was offered to those in the encampment established to protest the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza.

A smiling Ocasio-Cortez showed up in videos speaking to denizens of the encampment, and Bowman was seen cheerfully chatting with the demonstrators. Bowman also reportedly attended a Thursday evening Biden campaign fundraiser in Westchester County.

The visits by Ocasio-Cortez and Bowman to Columbia’s campus in New York City came one day after Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar traveled to the school with her daughter (who was arrested a week ago for trespassing as part of the demonstrations) to show her support for the protest of Israel’s war against Hamas.

Choosing Sides

‘PEACEFULLY PROTESTING’: Columbia anti-Israel agitators file civil rights complaint to Dept. of Education …Read more

CHOOSING SIDES: Flag used by terrorist group seen at ivy league anti-Israel encampment …Read more

WHO’S BEHIND IT?: Expert argues similarities in campus anti-Israel protests suggest foreign influence …Read more

UNSAFE SPACES: Columbia protest leader discussed ‘murdering Zionists,’ calling on them to die …Read more

‘WARMONGER’: Pelosi university speech interrupted by anti-Israel agitators …Read more

GUESS WHO: Anti-Israel protests nationwide fueled by left-wing groups backed by Soros, dark money …Read more

Capitol Hill

FOLLOW THE MONEY: House lawmakers urge major donors to cut off Columbia amid protests …Read more

NO WORDS: Republicans pushing for Johnson’s ouster silent on Trump support for speaker …Read more

SENATE SHOT: New Republican challenger to Elizabeth Warren says ‘no one has disappointed Massachusetts more’ …Read more

WELCOME TO SAN FRANCISCO: Schiff reportedly robbed in big city, forced to attend ritzy campaign dinner with no suit to wear …Read more

White House

POWER GRAB: Biden’s gas car crackdown faces major roadblock …Read more

UP THE ANTE: Biden’s latest tax hike could crush the economy, experts warn …Read more

LIGHTS OUT: Biden climate agenda threatening power grid, massive energy provider warns …Read more

‘UPHILL BATTLE’: Blue state in battle over AG’s illegal immigration dictate that ‘handcuffs’ police …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

LET’S DEBATE: Biden tells Howard Stern he’s ‘happy’ to debate Trump this fall …Read more

SWING STATES SOURING: Biden adviser ducks poll showing swing state voters down on economy …Read more

‘HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE’: Surging GOP Senate candidate visits southern border as crisis rages …Read more

HANDS OFF: Republican makes major announcement aimed at keeping crucial voting bloc from Dems …Read more

HELPING HAND: Biden changes walking routine as questions about age continue …Read more

OPINION: DA Bragg’s legal strategy is filth by association …Read more

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

New York can move ahead with a law requiring internet service providers to offer heavily discounted rates to low-income residents, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

The decision from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan reverses a lower court ruling from 2021 that blocked the policy just days before it went into effect.

The law would force internet companies to give some low-income New Yorkers broadband service for as low as $15 a month, or face fines from the state.

BRAGG ‘ALLOWED POLITICAL MOTIVATIONS’ TO ‘INFECT’ PROSECUTION OF TRUMP, HOUSE JUDICIARY GOP SAYS

Telecoms trade groups sued over the law, arguing it would cost them too much money and that it wrongly superseded a federal law that governs internet service.

On Friday, the industry groups said they were weighing their next legal move.

“We are disappointed by the court’s decision and New York state’s move for rate regulation in competitive industries. It not only discourages the needed investment in our nation’s infrastructure, but also potentially risks the sustainability of broadband operations in many areas,” a statement read.

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New York state lawmakers approved the law in 2021 as part of the budget, with supporters arguing that the policy would give low-income residents a way to access the internet, which has become a vital utility.

A Democrat representative who is now running for Senate in battleground state Michigan is facing scrutiny over a Limited Liability Company she started in 2017 just weeks prior to announcing her congressional bid.

Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., established the LLC, called Pinpoint Consulting, weeks before announcing in 2017 that she was running for Congress to unseat an incumbent Republican. According to the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, the business is “Not in Good Standing,” as of 2020. 

The last annual report for the business was filed in 2019. 

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“I’m a third-generation Michigander and spent my early life on a farm in Holly, Michigan where I currently live and run a small consulting business,” Slotkin’s campaign website, ElissaForCongress.com, stated in October 2017, according to an internet archive snapshot. 

In an ad launched by End Citizens United advocating for Slotkin in May 2018, the organization claimed, “she is a small business owner in Holly.” 

In a financial disclosure report filed with the House clerk in August 2023, Slotkin is still listed as the founder and CEO of Pinpoint Consulting. However, a comment on the document states, “Business has been inactive since 2017 and generates no income/revenue.”

Slotkin’s campaign did not say whether she ever had any clients, revenue, or employees. The congresswoman’s various disclosures don’t reveal any income coming from her firm at any time. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for her said, “Rep. Slotkin set up a consulting firm after leaving the Department of Defense, when she was considering a number of different job opportunities. She ultimately decided to run for Congress.”

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Slotkin served as an acting assistant secretary of defense until January 2017, per her official biography. The LLC was established with the state of Michigan on June 21, 2017. By July 10, she had announced her campaign for Congress to unseat then-Republican Rep. Mike Bishop. 

Her campaign further pointed to comments made in May 2018 to local outlet Lansing City Pulse. “I was looking for my next step after being in government for 14 years, and I was asked to do some work on an Iraq-related matter,” Slotkin said of her departure from the DOD at the time. “Every time I’ve had a sort of life change, I’ve come back to Michigan to reset, to find out what’s going on. That’s always the place I come back to figure out what my next steps [are].”

But some critics don’t think the company’s establishment and apparent inactivity are that simply explained.

“She was running against a sitting member of Congress in a Republican-leaning district and … everybody was wrapping their arms around small businesses” at the time, said Jason Cabel Roe, who led the Congressional Leadership Fund’s effort to support Bishop in the 2018 race.  

“What she tried to do in 2018 was make herself look like a moderate Republican to Republican voters that did not like Donald Trump,” he said. 

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Roe explained the business “was a talking point that she relied on in 2018. But once she got elected, I bet she never talked about it again after 2019.”

Slotkin’s business is not mentioned in her Senate campaign. It’s also not featured in her official biography. “I mean, it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny,” Roe said. 

“Elissa Slotkin created a consulting business on paper, so she could call herself a small business owner when she ran for Congress,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesperson Maggie Abboud told Fox News Digital in a statement.

“However, it does not appear that she ever actually had any clients. Slotkin’s misrepresentation of her experience in business could be a major issue for her campaign,” she added. 

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The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication.

Slotkin is considered the front-runner for the Democratic Senate nomination in Michigan to replace outgoing Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Actor Hill Harper is also running for the nomination but is far behind the congresswoman in polls of the primary race and with endorsements. Additionally, a Lebanese-born businessman from Dearborn is also running. Nasser Beydoun, an advocate for Gaza civilians amid the war between Israel and Hamas, was recently the chairman of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Michigan, which is home to one of the largest Arab populations in any state. 

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The Senate primary in Michigan takes place on Aug. 6. The general election race is considered competitive by non-partisan political handicapper The Cook Political Report, which rated it “Lean Democratic.” 

On the Republican side, the likely nominee is less clear. However, former Rep. Mike Rogers boasts the endorsement of former President Trump, giving him an edge. Former Reps. Peter Meijer and Justin Amash are also running, as well as businessman Sandy Pensler, who was previously endorsed by former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. 

The three House Republican rebels pushing to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., are silent on former President Donald Trump’s support for the embattled congressional leader.

Roughly just six months after winning the speaker’s gavel following three weeks of chaos over the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Johnson is already under threat of losing it after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., filed a resolution for a House-wide vote on his leadership, known as a motion to vacate the chair.

Two more lawmakers, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., signed onto her resolution in protest of Johnson’s $95 billion foreign aid plan, which included funds for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific but nothing on the U.S. border, much to some conservatives’ chagrin.

Johnson got some key backup earlier this week when Trump came to his defense, arguing Johnson is doing the best he can with a razor-thin House GOP majority.

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“It’s not like he can go and do whatever he wants to do. I think he’s a very good person. You know, he stood very strongly with me on NATO when I said NATO has to pay up,” Trump told radio host John Fredericks after his Monday court appearance. “It’s a tough situation when you have what, I think, is a very good man. I think he’s trying very hard. And again, we’ve got to have a big election.”

Gosar’s office told Fox News Digital he had “no comment” on Trump’s defense of Johnson. Gosar has been one of Trump’s most ardent supporters in Congress.

Spokespeople for Greene and Massie similarly had nothing to share — Fox News Digital attempted to reach both offices multiple times for comment on Trump’s remarks but did not get responses.

3RD REPUBLICAN CALLS FOR SPEAKER JOHNSON’S OUSTER OVER $95B FOREIGN AID PLAN

Like Gosar, Greene has been a top Trump ally in Congress and a popular surrogate for him on the campaign trail. She’s also been one of Johnson’s fiercest critics over his bipartisan work on issues like government spending and foreign aid.

Massie has had a significantly frostier relationship with the former president, having supported his GOP primary rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, before DeSantis dropped out of the race earlier this year.

The Kentucky Republican has most recently accused Trump of “bullying” fellow Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Fla., when he called for a primary challenger to take her down.

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Both Greene and Massie, however, have signaled that they’re unrepentant about their threats against Johnson in the days since Trump’s defense.

“It’s baffling hearing the establishment complain that it’s too much drama, too hard, and too risky to go through another Speaker race. Meanwhile, Americans are getting kicked in the teeth from the ridiculous drama inflicted on them from pathetic politicians in Washington,” Greene wrote Tuesday on X. “You know what Americans think is hard? Paying their bills. You know what Americans think is risky? Doing absolutely nothing but pass messaging bills about the daily deadly border invasion.”

Massie wrote on X that same day, “The weakest argument in defense of Speaker Johnson is ‘It’s a razor thin majority; you can’t get everything you want.’ We don’t expect to get everything, but we also won’t tolerate complete & total surrender.”

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All eyes are on Greene; for now, there’s nothing compelling House leaders to bring her motion up for a vote. If she declares it a “privileged resolution,” lawmakers would be forced to take it up within two legislative days.

A majority of House Republican lawmakers have already signaled that they don’t have the appetite for another period of upheaval like what followed McCarthy’s ouster.

Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson’s office and the Trump campaign for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: A Republican running for re-election in a race key to a possible GOP Senate majority made a major announcement Friday aimed at keeping a crucial voting bloc away from the Democrats.

Florida Sen. Rick Scott announced the latest ad installment of a multimillion-dollar investment in Hispanic outreach, one that his campaign hopes will continue the demographic’s swing toward the GOP and further solidify the state as deep red.

“As parents, we teach values to our children, the difference between right and wrong, truth and lies. But then we send our kids to school where some radical socialist teacher doesn’t teach them math or English. No, they’re taught that men can have babies and become women, and that we should worship the god of government, not the God who created us. That is socialism,” Scott says in the ad, titled “Verdad,” which will run in both Spanish and English.

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The ad will run in multiple TV and radio markets across Florida, as well as statewide on multiple digital platforms.

Socialism has been a major theme in Florida elections in recent years, especially considering the Hispanic population in the state has significant Cuban and Venezuelan heritage. 

Some election experts argue that has been one of the major factors in the shift of Hispanics toward the Republican Party, which has expanded into other Hispanic groups, such as the Puerto Rican community.

According to the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, 55% of Florida’s Hispanics supported Republican Sen. Marco Rubio in his 2022 re-election bid, as well as Miami-Dade County — traditionally a Democratic stronghold that Hillary Clinton won by 29 percentage points in 2016.

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Scott, who is expected to sail to victory in the Republican primary on Aug. 20, will likely face Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, the former representative of Florida’s 26th Congressional District ousted in the 2020 election.

Elections analysts rate the race as either “likely” or “solid” Republican.

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

The prosecutor whose opening statement kicked off the historic trial of Former President Donald Trump left a lofty perch in the Biden administration Justice Department for his current comparatively modest New York City job – a career move that legal analysts describe as puzzling and one that’s prompted questions regarding motivation.

Even though Matthew Colangelo is only now sitting in a courtroom formally opposing the former president, his work has for years involved investigating Trump and his businesses, despite working for different prosecutorial offices at varying levels of government. Colangelo’s sudden switch from top DOJ official to a role with the DA’s office in the Big Apple has particularly raised eyebrows.

“It’s very odd. It’s usually the other way around. . . . And frankly, that sounds to me like somebody who thought, ‘Ah, here’s an opportunity to go and get Donald Trump,'” attorney and former member of the Federal Election Commission, Hans von Spakovsky, told Fox News Digital in a phone interview this month. 

It’s rare to see successful, ambitious attorneys willingly climb several steps down the career ladder, experts note.

“It is a little unusual,” Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Zack Smith said of Colangelo’s career moves. “Particularly, the position he had at the Justice Department was a fairly high ranking one . . . he spent some time in the New York Attorney General’s office, he also spent some time as a career staffer in the DOJ Civil Rights Division. He was in leadership in the Justice Department, and then immediately from that leadership position – an acting leadership position – went to the DA’s office.”

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Colangelo’s current case marks the first time a former president has stood trial on criminal charges. It stems from payments made by Trump’s former personal attorney to a former pornographic actress ahead of the 2016 election and was brought forth last year by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

The trial began in earnest this week – after a week of jury selection – as Colangelo delivered his opening on Monday, seeking to make the prosecution’s case that Trump had illegally falsified business records to conceal another crime. 

Trump is no fan of Colangelo’s. He has slammed the attorney as a “radical left [prosecutor] who was put into the state working for Letitia James and was then put into the District Attorney’s office to run the trial against Trump.” That comment came before the presiding judge, Juan Merchan, imposed a gag order that prevents Trump from speaking publicly about witnesses or the prosecution team. 

Colangelo has a lengthy government resume, working in a variety of legal roles that date to the Obama administration. He most recently served nearly two years in Biden’s DOJ, including as acting associate attorney general and overseeing the Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment and Natural Resources, and Tax Divisions.

Colangelo’s background includes time spent clerking for Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor when she served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and seven years at the NAACP’s legal defense and educational fund. Afterward, Colangelo worked for three years in the DOJ’s civil rights division during the Obama administration. He also served as deputy director of the Obama-Biden Administration’s National Economic Council and as chief of staff at the Labor Department under the Obama administration, the DA’s office detailed in a press release. 

Colangelo’s decision in 2017 to take a job in the New York Attorney General’s Office – filling a role left vacant by the departure of his future boss, Bragg – led to the first in a series of cases against Trump. 

Colangelo assisted a case in 2018 that dissolved Trump’s former NY-based charity, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, after prosecutors alleged that it had illegally coordinated with Trump’s 2016 campaign. The charity was dissolved after a judge found that Trump had “breached his fiduciary duty.”

That same year, Colangelo worked as lead prosecutor in a case involving the Trump administration’s push to include a citizenship question in the 2020 census. The Justice Department ultimately decided to print the 2020 Census without the citizenship question due to lengthy court battles that included having the Supreme Court weigh in that the question could not be added for the time being. 

“I think given his time at the AG’s office, in the Justice Department, and now at the district attorney’s office, it certainly appears like his career path in the past several years has been designed to target and essentially try to bring charges against Donald Trump in whatever form or fashion he can do so,” Smith said.

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Von Spakovsky cited Colangelo’s previous employment with the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division as a potential concern, calling the DOJ department a home for “some of the most unethical lawyers” he’s ever met. Von Spakovsky worked in the Civil Rights Division from 2001 to 2005 but did not overlap with Colangelo. He spoke to Fox Digital about what he had personally experienced in the office and how he viewed the operation of the office in the years that followed. 

“I’ve now been a lawyer for four decades. I work at Heritage. I’ve worked in the federal government. I was in private practice. I was in-house corporate counsel,” he said. “I have never in my entire career met lawyers more partisan, more far-left radical ideologues than I met in the Civil Rights Division in the career ranks. 

“I was in the voting section to start with . . . they had about 100 people – half lawyers, about half support staff. I have never in my life been met with the kinds of hostility I was met with when I started my job there.”

Von Spakovsky said he believes the reason for his chilly reception was “because they knew that politically I was a conservative,” though noting he was a career employee, and not a political appointee.

He pointed to an IG report published in 2013 that detailed concern that the office predominantly hired from “liberal” civil rights organizations, including the ACLU, NAACP and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law, and noted that the report showed “political and ideological hiring going on into the career ranks, which is not supposed to happen.”

“Because they’re all hired from these liberal advocacy organizations, they never make the transition to understanding that they now are a government lawyer and that their client is the public,” he said. “What they all think is, ‘Oh, I used to work for the ACLU. Well, now I can continue doing that work for the ACLU, but I have the power of the government behind me.'”

After moving from the New York AG’s office to the DOJ and then finally to Bragg’s office, Colangelo now finds himself at the heart of the New York v. Trump case unfolding in Manhattan criminal court. 

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The trial’s origins reach back to October of 2016, when Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, paid former pornographic actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to allegedly stop her claims about an alleged extramarital affair she had with the then-real estate tycoon in 2006. Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels. 

Prosecutors allege that the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen, and fraudulently logged the payments as legal expenses.   

“During the election, TRUMP and others employed a ‘catch and kill’ scheme to identify, purchase and bury negative information about him and boost his electoral prospects,” Bragg said last year. “TRUMP then went to great lengths to hide this conduct, causing dozens of false entries in business records to conceal criminal activity, including attempts to violate state and federal election laws.”

“Catch-and-kill” schemes are understood as tactics used by media and publishing companies to buy the rights to a person’s story with the intention of burying the information.

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Bragg was elected district attorney in 2021, succeeding Cyrus Vance, who did not run for re-election. Vance left the office with the massive case hanging in the air despite saying he was “committed to moving the case as far along in the decision-making as I can while I’m here.” 

Bragg officially took office in January 2022, with the nation wondering whether he would indict Trump. 

By March of that year, however, two prosecutors in the office who were investigating Trump’s net worth, Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne, resigned. Pomerantz charged that Bragg had stopped pursuing the case against Trump and suspended the investigation “indefinitely.”

“You have reached the decision not to go forward with the grand jury presentation and not to seek criminal charges at the present time,” Pomerantz wrote in his resignation letter, Fox Digital previously reported. “The investigation has been suspended indefinitely.”

MANHATTAN DA BRAGG SUSPENDED TRUMP INVESTIGATION ‘INDEFINITELY,’ STOPPED PURSUING CHARGES

His letter continued: “Of course, that is your decision to make. I do not question your authority to make it, and I accept that you have made it sincerely.”

He added, however, that “a decision made in good faith may nevertheless be wrong.”

Months later, in December, Bragg announced a new hire: Colangelo. 

“Matthew Colangelo brings a wealth of economic justice experience combined with complex white-collar investigations, and he has the sound judgment and integrity needed to pursue justice against powerful people and institutions when they abuse their power,” Bragg said at the time. “Those who would harass tenants, steal wages, endanger workers or defraud the public should know that the Manhattan D.A.’s Office has never had a stronger, more dedicated team in place to enforce our laws and hold them accountable.” 

Four months after Colangelo left the DOJ for the DA’s office, Trump was indicted on 34 counts of “falsifying New York business records in order to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election.”

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Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor. Prosecutors are working to prove that Trump falsified records with an intent to commit or conceal a second crime, which would be a felony. This week, prosecutors revealed that the other crime in the case is “conspiracy to promote or prevent election,” a violation of New York election law. 

​​Colangelo said during his opening argument on Monday that the case against Trump “is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up.” He argued that Trump, Cohen and the then-CEO of American Media Inc., David Pecker, had “conspired to influence the 2016 presidential election.” Prosecutors say that Pecker had helped to facilitate “catch-and-kill schemes” by purchasing exclusive rights to stories that could have damaged Trump’s run for the White House and then not publishing the stories. 

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“Some of the charges he’s trying to bring are false-records charges against Donald Trump, which are ordinarily misdemeanors, unless they were done in furtherance of another felony, simply to cover up another felony,” Smith told Fox News Digital. 

Prosecutors say that Trump violated a New York election law, though he had already been examined by federal bodies that oversee elections. The Justice Department in 2019, for example, “effectively concluded” its investigation into Trump’s payments. In 2021, the Federal Elections Commission, the agency dedicated to enforcing campaign finance laws, announced that it had dropped a case looking into whether Trump had violated election laws with the payment to Daniels. 

Von Spakovsky also underscored to Fox News Digital that both the FEC and DOJ had declined to pursue the case. 

“The [FEC] looked at this and said that this settlement was not a violation of federal law. The Justice Department also has criminal enforcement authority over federal campaign finance laws, and the Justice Department has also not considered this a crime,” he said. 

Von Spakovsky added that he couldn’t speculate whether Colangelo had been hired by the DA’s office for the purpose of prosecuting Trump, but argued that he believed no “objective lawyer” would have carried through with the case. 

“I think any objective lawyer, without any kind of partisan goals, would have taken a look at the facts and the law in this case and would not have decided to go forward,” he said. 

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Trump’s trial is ongoing and anticipated to last at least six weeks. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the district attorney’s office, the White House and the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division for comment but did not receive responses.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.