NationalWatch

GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed former President Trump for words of respect directed at terror group Hezbollah, as well as what he called an “attack” on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Following a speech Trump gave Wednesday in West Palm Beach, Florida, DeSantis took Trump to task for his remarks. 

“Terrorists have murdered at least 1,200 Israelis and 22 Americans and are holding more hostage, so it is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for President, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel, much less praise Hezbollah terrorists as ‘very smart.’” DeSantis wrote on X, formerly Twitter, late Wednesday. 

“As President, I will stand with Israel and treat terrorists like the scum that they are,” he added. 

BIDEN ADMIN SAYS NO ‘SPECIFIC EVIDENCE’ IRAN DIRECTLY LINKED TO HAMAS ATTACK ON ISRAEL: ‘BROAD COMPLICITY’

Speaking to a Florida crowd not far from his Mar-a-Lago residence, Trump on Wednesday blamed the Biden administration for the terror attack on Israel over the weekend – and also attributed the bloodshed to the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, which operates across the border in Lebanon. Israel has faced attacks originating in Lebanon at the same time that it conducts a war against Hamas following the Gaza-based group’s brutal, large-scale terror operation over the weekend. 

“Two nights ago I read all of Biden’s security people – can you imagine? – national defense people, and they said, ‘Gee, I hope Hezbollah doesn’t attack from the north because that’s the most vulnerable spot. I said wait a minute, you know Hezbollah’s very smart. They’re all very smart. The press doesn’t like when I say,” Trump said. “You know, I said that President Xi of China, 1.4 billion people he controls it with an iron fist, I said he’s a very smart man. They killed me the next day. I said he was smart … what am I gonna say?”

ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES KILL SENIOR HAMAS NAVAL OPERATIVE, DESTROYED OPERATIONAL COMMAND CENTERS IN GAZA: IDF

“But Hezbollah, they’re very smart,” he continued. “And they have a national defense minister or somebody saying I hope Hezbollah doesn’t attack us from the north. So the following morning they attacked. They might not have been doing it, but if you listen to this jerk, you would attack from the north because he said that’s our weak spot.” 

Trump, who considers himself a strong ally to Israel, also criticized Netanyahu, claiming the Israeli leader backed out at the last minute in the plan to kill Iran’s top security and intelligence commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, who was taken out by an American drone strike in 2020.

“I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing,” Trump said. “So when I see sometimes the intelligence. You talk about the intelligence or you talk about some of the things that went wrong in the last week, they’ve gotta straighten it out because they’re fighting potentially a very big force. They’re fighting potentially Iran, and when they have people saying the wrong things, everything they say is being digested by these people because they’re vicious and they’re smart, and boy are they vicious because nobody’s ever seen the kind of sight that we’ve seen. Nobody’s ever seen it. But they cannot play games. We were disappointed by that, very disappointed. But we did the job ourselves, and it was absolute precision, magnificent, beautiful job. And then Bibi tried to take credit for it. That didn’t make me feel too good. But that’s alright. So they gotta strengthen themselves up.”

A Trump campaign spokesperson clarified the GOP front-runner’s remarks in a statement to Fox News Digital.

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“President Trump was clearly pointing out how incompetent Biden and his administration were by telegraphing to the terrorists an area that is susceptible to an attack,” the spokesperson said. “Smart does not equal good. It just proves Biden is stupid.”

The spokesperson also referred to another moment from Wednesday’s speech, when Trump said that if he regains office, “the United States will fully support Israel, defeating, dismantling, and permanently destroying the terrorist group, Hamas.”

The sneak attack by Hamas on Israel — the deadliest assault on the Jewish State in decades — instantly rocked the 2024 White House race, altering the conversation on the presidential campaign trail.

While the Republican presidential candidates have tried to one-up each other in placing blame with President Biden for the horrific attack and showcasing their support for Israel, the Hamas assault has also quickly become a wedge issue in the GOP nomination fight.

Hours after Hamas militants swarmed into Israel, former Vice President Mike Pence took aim at Biden, decrying what he called American’s “retreat on the world stage.” 

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS COVERAGE OF THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

But the former vice president, on the campaign trail in Iowa, seemed to save his most scathing rebuke for three of his rivals for the nomination.

Pence pointed fingers at “voices of appeasement like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis that I believe have run contrary to the tradition in our party that America is the leader of the free world.”

The growing schism in the Republican Party over America’s role policing the world — evident in GOP fight over continued support for Ukraine in its year and a half long war against Russian aggression — may be spreading to Israel, where Republicans have long showcased their unyielding support for Jerusalem.

MIDDLE EAST BATTLE INSTANTLY ROCKS 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

It’s no surprise that Pence was the first to take aim at other GOP White House hopefuls and has repeatedly criticized some of his rivals, including his former running mate, over their lack of support for Kyiv.

“This is also what happens when you have leaders in the Republican Party signaling retreat on the world stage,” Pence argued. Evoking the late President Ronald Reagan, as he often does, Pence emphasized that “it’s time to get back to peace through strength.”

Another part of the rift in the Republican presidential primary between the GOP’s growing isolationist wing and more traditional conservatives pushing for a muscular U.S. role overseas, could be seen in a speech Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina delivered Tuesday afternoon at a think tank in Washington D.C., and in an ensuing interview on the Fox News Channel.

While blasting Biden for having “blood on his hands,” and claiming that the president’s weakness “invited the attack” by Hamas, which was supported by Iran, Scott targeted DeSantis and Ramaswamy.

“Vivek Ramaswamy has said that the definition of success is reducing America’s support for Israel,” Scott argued. He accused the multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur and first-time candidate of proposing “that we surrender Taiwan to the Chinese Communist Party as long as we’ve relocated some factories.”

WATCH FOX NEWS LIVE COVERAGE OF THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Scott also blasted the Florida governor, noting that “DeSantis once dismissed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as just some ‘territorial dispute.’”

“The last thing we need is a Joe Biden wing of the Republican Party on foreign policy,” he argued.

Scott, who has been running a positive and uplifting conservative campaign, for months avoided criticizing his rivals, including Trump — the commanding front-runner for the GOP nomination as he makes this third straight White House run. 

But the senator has turned up the volume against his rivals in recent weeks, as his standing in polls has flat lined.

DeSantis, campaigning in Iowa on Monday ahead of the Scott speech, pushed back at Pence.

“If Mike Pence wants to blame me for what’s happening, I think that most people would just laugh at that. What a joke,” DeSantis told reporters.

And on Tuesday, the Ramaswamy campaign fired back at Scott.

“We understand Tim Scott is attempting to gain some semblance of relevance in this race, but lying in the face of these barbaric atrocities isn’t an effective way to do so,” spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement. “Vivek has offered a clear, rational response that supports Israel while avoiding another U.S.-led disaster in the Middle East.”

Ramaswamy also fired away at former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during the first two years of the Trump administration.

Haley, who knocked the 38-year-old Ramaswamy at the first Republican presidential nomination debate in August by arguing “you have no foreign policy experience, and it shows,” urged earlier this week that Israel “needs to eliminate Hamas without question” during an interview on Fox News’ “Hannity.”

Ramaswamy on Tuesday emphasized that “I am disappointed and deeply concerned by the remarks of certain presidential candidates including Nikki Haley who have irresponsibly called the Hamas attack an ‘attack on America’ and rabidly shout ‘FINISH THEM!!’ repeatedly without offering a pragmatic path forward.”

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Doug Heye, a veteran Republican strategist and communicator, offered that blowup of warfare in the Mideast was an unexpected development on the campaign trail.

“I think that there’s sort of a figuring it out as we go along part of this because clearly what happened this weekend was a surprise to everyone,” Heye, who’s neutral in the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race, said. 

Heye noted that the “candidates can take swipes at each other, but this is an opportunity for them to demonstrate leadership as well.”

“I look at this as an opportunity for candidates with foreign policy experience to shine,” he said. And Heye pointed to Haley and Pence “as the two obvious examples.”

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

Former President Trump’s endorsement for the new House speaker failed on Wednesday when the GOP picked House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., as their nominee for top House lawmaker.

Trump endorsed House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to be the new House speaker last week, which many expected could push Jordan over the finish line.

Jordan received a lot of public support and endorsements from his House colleagues, but any expectations that he would cruise to the nomination over Scalise were dashed on Wednesday.

JORDAN URGES SUPPORTERS TO BACK SCALISE FOR SPEAKER AS HOUSE GOES INTO RECESS

Scalise took the nomination over Jordan in a secret ballot, drawing questions about the strength of the former president’s endorsement.

Democrat Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota — a moderate member — told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that he thinks “on the surface” the pick of Scalise over Jordan “seems like a pretty clear repudiation of Trump, and a fairly public one.”

Phillips said he thinks “supporters of Mr. Scalise would probably have to think twice about [that] before they actually make that vote for reasons” that people would “understand.”

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, seemed to dismiss the idea that Scalise’s victory was a repudiation of Trump’s endorsement. 

“Well, you got some people in the conference that obviously have some issues with Donald Trump,” Nehls told reporters after the GOP conference. “But I would probably say to those in the Republican conference that have problems with Donald Trump, get over yourself, because Donald Trump is the leader of our party. Make no mistake.”

When pressed on what it means that Trump’s preferred candidate failed to win a majority of the GOP votes, Nehls said: “But he also got 99 votes. Jim Jordan did get 99. That’s a significant number.”

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

Since the nomination, Jordan said he plans to vote for Scalise for speaker and is even expected to give a nominating speech on the House floor whenever a vote is held.

Jordan has also been encouraging his supporters to back Scalise once the nomination hits the House floor for a vote.

Some Republicans, including Reps. Chip Roy and Marjorie Taylor Greene have said they will not vote for Scalise.

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The news comes as Republicans look to mint a new House speaker after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s historic ouster last week.

McCarthy has since backed Scalise, his former number two, for the speakership.

Fox News’s Elizabeth Elkind and Kelly Phares contributed reporting.

A top adviser to President Biden is facing criticism over a comment he made shortly before the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the Middle East was the calmest it has been in decades, bringing to the forefront other controversial foreign policy decisions the Biden adviser has been involved with over the last decade.

“What we said is want to depressurize, de-escalate, and ultimately integrate the Middle East region,” Sullivan said at “The Atlantic Festival” on September 29. 

“The war in Yemen is in its 19th month of truce, for now the Iranian attacks against U.S. forces have stopped, our presence in Iraq is stable, I emphasize for now because all of that can change and the Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades,” he said.

Eight days later, Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed at least 1,200 Israelis causing many conservatives to blast Sullivan’s comments on social media.

DEMOCRATS JOIN REPUBLICAN PUSH FOR BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO REFREEZE $6B IRANIAN ASSETS

“We are less safe with this Biden team,” former Trump Acting Director of the United States National Intelligence Richard Grenell posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to Sullivan’s comment. 

Matthew Brodsky, senior fellow at the Gold Institute for International Strategy, wrote on X that Sullivan’s comment was an “outright lie at the time he said it.”

Sullivan has been at the center of several controversies in recent years, many of which have been brought up by conservatives on social media in light of his Middle East comment, including the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In the days following the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, Sullivan and the State Department were criticized for being unable to say exactly how many Americans had been left behind. 

WHITE HOUSE SAYS ’20 OR MORE’ AMERICANS ARE MISSING IN ISRAEL AMID HAMAS ATTACKS

On August 22, 2021, more than a week after frenzied scenes of evacuating Afghans at the Kabul airport began to surface, Sullivan admitted that the administration did not know how many Americans were still in Afghanistan.

“We cannot give you a precise number,” Sullivan told CNN. “We believe it is several thousand Americans who we are working with now to try to get safely out of the country.”

At one point, it was believed that nearly 450 Americans were still stuck in the country two months after the U.S. withdrawal. 

Sullivan said on August 16 that “the president did not think it was inevitable that the Taliban were going to take control of Afghanistan” and that the situation devolved at “unexpected speed.”

REPUBLICANS SEND LETTER TO JAKE SULLIVAN DEMANDING ‘TOTAL FIGURES’ FOR UKRAINE AID

“He should’ve lost his job after the botched Afghanistan withdrawal,” Abigail Jackson, press secretary for GOP Senator Josh Hawley, posted on X on Sunday.

In 2021, the top oversight Republican in Congress called for the removal of Sullivan from his position due to his position at the “epicenter” of failed foreign policy decisions over the last ten years including the Benghazi terror attack that killed 3 American contractors and a U.S. Ambassador. 

Sullivan served as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s former deputy chief of staff and policy adviser at the State Department during the 2012 attack on U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya.

“From Benghazi to the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, Jake Sullivan has been at the epicenter of the worst foreign policy crises and decisions over the past decade,” Ranking Member on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Kentucky Rep. James Comer, told Fox News Digital at the time. “Given this administration’s tendency to create self-inflicted crises, it’s no surprise Jake Sullivan has been given a top post at the Biden White House.”

NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER JAKE SULLIVAN: ‘NO DEFINITIVE ANSWER’ FROM INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY ON LAB LEAK THEORY

A source involved in Libya policy in Washington throughout Clinton’s tenure, speaking on background, told Fox News Digital in 2020 that Sullivan was a prominent — albeit quiet — player in the controversial U.S. overthrow of Libya with Clinton’s unflinching support.

Republicans also raised questions about Sullivan this past summer, Fox News Digital reported, after it was revealed that Sullivan served with Hunter Biden on the board of the Truman National Security Project, a liberal foreign policy think tank, for roughly two years before Sullivan joined the Biden campaign in 2020.

During the Clinton presidential campaign, Sullivan also notoriously pushed the Trump-Russia collusion narrative to reporters. He told members of the House Intelligence committee in a December 2017 interview that prior to the 2016 election he briefed reporters on his suspicions. 

“[B]asically we sat with them and walked through what we understood to be the case from — in terms of the DNC hack and leak, what we believed to be the case with respect to Russian involvement,” Sullivan said, “and then what we thought the upshot of this was, which is you now have the start of a much more aggressive phase of an intelligence-led operation by foreign power, and there’s likely to be more as we go forward, and people should really pay attention to this.”

“Jake Sullivan has a lot to answer for,” GOP Sen. Josh Hawley, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital earlier this year. 

“He has repeatedly lied for perceived political gain – whether that be about the Russia Collusion hoax or the Hunter Biden laptop. And now he’s Biden’s national security adviser? He should resign immediately.”

Sullivan was recently accused by former White House official Mike McCormick of being a “conspirator” in the Biden family’s “kickback scheme” in Ukraine when Biden was vice president.

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Sullivan denied the allegations, telling reporters that he had nothing to do with such an operation. 

Sullivan has also been criticized in the past for his involvement in the U.S. foreign policy dealings in Syria and Myanmar. 

During a 2019 interview with the New Yorker, Sullivan said it was “a great regret of mine” that “we were not able to more effectively play a role in stopping hundreds of thousands of people from dying in Syria and millions and millions more losing their homes.”

The National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fox News Digital’s Cameron Cawthorne and Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.

The Democrat governor of one red state is taking heat from his Republican challenger over his continued support for President Biden just weeks ahead of what could be the most consequential Election Day of the off-year campaign cycle.

The criticism comes after a local Kentucky outlet reported that the state’s Democrat governor, Andy Beshear, reiterated his support for Biden, who is wildly unpopular with Kentuckians, in an interview published on Tuesday.

“It should come as no surprise that Andy Beshear is endorsing Joe Biden. Andy has been doing Biden’s bidding his entire time in office. As a result, Kentuckians are struggling to make ends meet, our streets are full of crime and drugs, and our kids face historic learning loss,” Kentucky’s Republican Attorney General and gubernatorial nominee Daniel Cameron told Fox News Digital after the report’s publishing.

FORMER SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIER GETS ANOTHER BIG NAME ENDORSEMENT IN RACE TO FLIP SWING HOUSE SEAT FROM DEMS

Sean Southard, the spokesman for the Republican Party of Kentucky and a Cameron campaign surrogate, added to that, pointing to what he said was Biden “bankrolling” Beshear’s political operation.

“Kentuckians don’t want four more years of Joe Biden’s failures,” he said. “Andy’s endorsement of Biden shows he is out-of-touch on inflation, crime, and the border. Biden is bankrolling Beshear’s campaign. That’s why Andy will always put Biden ahead of Kentucky. Daniel Cameron will always put Kentucky first.”

Southard’s “bankrolling” accusation was in reference to Federal Election Commission data showing the Kentucky Democrat Party was raising money through the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee authorized by the Biden-Harris re-election campaign, and in turn transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars to Beshear’s campaign.

POTENTIAL NAIL-BITER RACE IN DEEP-RED STATE HEATS UP AS DEM NOMINEE ACCUSES GOP GOVERNOR, FAMILY OF CORRUPTION

In his Tuesday interview, Beshear said that commercials trying to tie him to Biden were being run by the Cameron campaign and groups supporting his gubernatorial bid because “they don’t have an agenda to run on, and they can’t win if this race is about us in Kentucky.”

“Every governor’s race is about that state, is about what’s going on in the economy, yet the ads you’re seeing from them are trying to convince you that this race is about Washington, D.C., and I believe that they are dishonest as I believe a number of the ads are. They are meant to confuse, and they are meant to stir up anger and fear and sometimes even hatred,” Beshear said.

A spokesperson for Beshear’s campaign, told Fox, “Daniel Cameron knows he can’t win this race if it’s about the record economic development, tens of thousands of new jobs and historic investments in our infrastructure made under Andy Beshear. He’s desperate to make this race about Washington, DC instead of what’s happening here in Kentucky to improve our families lives every day.”

REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN ADMITS HE ‘WAS PRAYING’ FOR ‘SMALL’ GOP HOUSE MAJORITY BEFORE 2022 MIDTERM ELECTIONS

The spokesperson also pointed out that this isn’t a new position for Beshear as suggested by the Cameron campaign, and that “it shows just how desperate the Cameron campaign is that they think a Democratic governor supporting a Democratic president for reelection is interesting.”

In terms of his own presidential preference, Cameron told Fox he was “proud to support and to be endorsed by President Trump,” before adding that voters in Kentucky were “looking forward to November 7, when we can fire Andy Beshear.”

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The race between Beshear and Cameron is the among the most closely watched election of 2023 and is being largely viewed as a bellwether for the 2024 elections. A Beshear victory could spell trouble for Republicans hoping to capitalize on the unpopularity of Biden and Democrats in Congress.

Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., plans to introduce a resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., over her “long history of making anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks.”

Bergman will formally introduce the move later Wednesday, Fox News Digital has learned. The lawmaker blasted his fellow Michigan representative for her reaction to this weekend’s unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists, which left at least 1,200 Israelis dead and thousands more wounded.

“As Hamas terrorists beheaded infants, paraded dead Jewish teenagers through town, and attacked innocent concert-goers in the most deadly day for Jews since the Holocaust, Rep. Rashida Tlaib chose to place the blame solely on Israel and the Jewish people,” Bergman, a 40-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, told Fox News in a statement.

“There is no moral equivalence between Israel defending itself and Hamas attacking innocent Israeli civilians. Tlaib’s long history of anti-Semitic tropes and blatant anti-Jewish propaganda is both disturbing and evil – and should have no place in the halls of Congress,” he added.

HOUSE SPEAKER RACE: REPUBLICANS TO SELECT A CANDIDATE TO REPLACE MCCARTHY IN CLOSED-DOOR VOTE

“One day after a series of coordinated attacks on Israel perpetrated by Hamas terrorists and leaving more Jews dead than any single day since the Holocaust, Congresswoman Tlaib issued a statement calling Israel an apartheid state and insinuating the United States should end its support for the State of Israel,” Bergman’s resolution charges.

FAMILIES OF ISRAELIS FEARED KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS TERRORISTS SPEAK OUT

Tlaib’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition to censuring Tlaib, the resolution would reaffirm the House of Representative’s support for Israel and reject the notion that it is an “apartheid” state.

Tlaib also came under fire this week for flying a Palestinian flag outside her Capitol Hill office. The flag has been there since at least January, but observers were outraged the flag remained following Saturday’s attack.

LIVE UPDATES: HAMAS ATTACKS ON ISRAEL

The House is currently in disarray following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and Republicans are scrambling to nominate a new speaker.

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The top candidates for the role are Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Scalise already serves as Majority Leader in the House, though Jordan has been endorsed by former President Trump. McCarthy has withdrawn his name from contention.

A senior White House official on Wednesday defended the Biden administration’s response to Iran, while admitting Tehran’s “broad complicity” in Hamas’ attack on Israel. 

John Kirby, the National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, also said there was no intelligence to date suggesting Iran was directly linked to Saturday’s attack. 

“Nobody has turned a blind eye to Iranian destabilizing behavior,” Kirby said. “We’re obviously recognize that there’s broad complicity here by the Iranians, I mean, because of the longstanding support to Hamas. Hamas wouldn’t have been able to function at all had it not been for propping up by the Iranian regime. But we haven’t seen any specific evidence that tells us they were wittingly involved in the planning or involved in the resourcing and the training that went into this very complex set of attacks over the weekend.” 

Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich pressed Kirby on how the Biden administration would define a “direct link” between the Hamas attack on Israel and Iran. In response, Kirby noted what White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Tuesday. 

“We haven’t seen anything that tells us they knew specifically date time, method that they were that they were witting to this it. We haven’t seen anything that tells us they specifically cut checks to support this set of attacks or that they were involved in the training and that obviously this required quite a bit of training by these terrorists or that they were involved in any directing of the operation,” Kirby said Wednesday. “We’re not one and done here either. We’re going to continue to look at the intelligence stream and see if it leads us to a different conclusion. All I can do is be honest with you about the conclusions we’re coming to today, and we just haven’t seen that.” 

WHITE HOUSE SILENT ON IRAN NUKE DEAL AFTER CLAIMS TEHRAN HELPED PLAN ATTACKS ON ISRAEL

“Is it the position of the administration that at this stage Iran was not involved?” Heinrich asked. “I guess my question is, how can we know this was in the planning for over a year and within a few short days say that Iran was not behind it?” 

“Because that’s what we think,” Kirby responded. “Again, we have not seen any evidence, specific evidence that Iran was directly involved with these specific sets of attacks.” 

“Look, we’re going to keep looking at it. The book is not closed on it. We’re going to keep looking at that. But that’s just where we are right now,” he added. 

This comes as former President Donald Trump and others have criticized the Biden administration’s $6 billion prisoner swap deal with Iran and called for the U.S. to rescind those funds. 

DEMOCRATS JOIN REPUBLICAN PUSH FOR BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO REFREEZE $6B IRANIAN ASSETS

At the White House press briefing, Kirby earlier reiterated to reporters that Iran has been “supporting Hamas and Hezbollah and other terrorist networks.” 

“Hamas is one of the most highly sanctioned terrorist networks on the planet, largely because of what we’ve been doing here in the United States to — to target them,” he said. 

Since the start of the Biden administration, Kirby said the United States sanctioned some 400 plus entities with more than 40 different sets of sanction regimes, including 30 the past year alone. He also stressed the Biden administration has increased U.S. military presence in the Gulf region because of attacks on maritime shipping. 

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“We have added additional sanctions because of their support to Russia and the fact that they’re still providing drones and technology to Mr. Putin so he can kill innocent Ukrainians. And now we’ve added our military capability. We’ve added to it from a naval perspective in the Eastern [Mediterranean],” Kirby said. 

Prosecutors are recommending a prison sentence for a former Republican candidate for Michigan governor who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for his participation in the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot.

Ryan Kelley’s arrest in 2022 gave his campaign a burst of notoriety in a conservative multi-candidate field, but he ended up finishing far behind other supporters of former President Donald Trump in the GOP primary election. Conservative commentator Tudor Dixon won the Republican primary but ultimately lost to incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.

GOP MICHIGAN GOVERNOR CANDIDATE PLEADS GUILTY TO JAN. 6 MISDEMEANOR CHARGE

Prosecutors, citing Kelley’s lack of remorse, are urging a judge to lock him up for three months when he returns to a Washington court Oct. 17, The Detroit News reported.

“For two years, Kelley posted statements on Facebook and other social media, making light of the riot, falsely denying that any violence took place, and insisting that he engaged in no wrongdoing,” prosecutors said in a court filing.

In July, Kelley, who lives in Ottawa County, pleaded guilty to a charge of illegally entering a restricted area.

ILLINOIS MAN GETS OVER 4 YEARS FOR J6 ASSAULTS ON REUTERS PHOTOGRAPHER, POLICE OFFICER

He climbed an “architectural feature” outside the Capitol and then gestured for other rioters behind him to move toward stairs leading up to the building, prosecutors said.

Kelley has said he was “protesting the government” because he did not like the results of the 2020 election.

Defense attorney Gary Springstead said probation, not prison, is an appropriate sentence.

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“Mr. Kelley has proven over the last 42 years that he is capable of being a law-abiding citizen and this is his first brush with the law,” Springstead said.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was chased from an event in Baltimore on Tuesday evening after left-wing climate activists stormed the stage and demanded he stop fossil fuel infrastructure projects.

Buttigieg was forced to depart the event — a Maryland policy forum at the city’s Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall hosted by local outlet Baltimore Banner — after more than a dozen activists with the group Climate Defiance stormed the stage yelling slogans. The protesters called on Buttigieg to reject two proposed oil transport projects, the Sea Port Oil Terminal and Texas GulfLink, under review by his agency’s Maritime Administration.

“Petro Pete is a coward. As we write he is ramming down our throats the Sea Port and GulfLink oil terminals – each worse than Keystone,” Climate Defiance tweeted following the event. “We must resist him with all we’ve got. And we will.”

“Your DOT just approved the Seaport Oil Terminal, a project that will have 80 coal plants worth of greenhouse gas emissions and will worsen air quality in areas that already live in cancer clusters,” one of the Climate Defiance activists told Buttigieg on stage. “This is about environmental racism and it’s about climate impacts this project will have. Will you commit to stopping these projects?”

REPUBLICANS URGE BIDEN ADMIN TO STOP DELAYING MAJOR GAS PIPELINE PROJECT

During the protest, activists were filmed calling Buttigieg “Petro Pete,” demanded he “end fossil fuels,” and chanted “which side are you on, Pete?” repeatedly.

When the event’s moderator then asked about the specific projects the protesters mentioned, Buttigieg said he didn’t want to “speak off the cuff.” But he added he respected “where they’re coming from” in reference to the protesters.

BIDEN ADMIN QUIETLY REVERSES TRUMP-ERA RULE, BANS TRANSPORTING FOSSIL FUELS BY TRAIN

“I get the urgency. By the time my kids are old enough to ask, we’re going to have a really good answer to get out of climate change,” he said, according to the Baltimore Banner.

“But my hope also is that some of those folks who are just here saw what happened when I was in front of the Transportation Infrastructure Committee two weeks ago trying to persuade or help the members of Congress [understand] that the seasons changing is not the same thing as climate change,” Buttigieg continued. “And if this literally came up, and so we’ve got literal climate deniers… who can’t be bothered to admit that climate change is real.”

The Seaport Oil Terminal project was proposed years ago and would consist of an offshore pipeline network in the Gulf of Mexico along the coast of Texas. The project, which is expected to enter operations in 2025 and allow for greater U.S. oil exports, received an initial approval by the Maritime Administration last year, but has yet to receive a license.

And the Texas GulfLink crude oil export terminal is also located off the coast of Texas, but has yet to receive approval by the Maritime Administration.

BIDEN ADMIN STONEWALLING ON PETE BUTTIGIEG’S PRIVATE GOVERNMENT JET RECORDS: WATCHDOG

Environmental groups have loudly opposed both projects, pointing to the expected greenhouse gas emissions that would be produced indirectly by the oil that would be transported. Groups led by the Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in January challenging the record of decision for Seaport Oil Terminal project, listing Buttigieg as a defendant.

“Considering the administration’s stated commitment to ‘tackle the climate crisis’, it is particularly troubling that MARAD’s review of SPOT’s environmental and community impacts entirely fails to account for the project’s significant contributions to climate change, including impacts from excessive greenhouse gas pollution that will push temperatures higher in the Houston area and disrupt global climate,” said Sierra Club senior attorney Devorah Ancel.

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The event Tuesday is one of many that Climate Defiance has interrupted and shut down as part of its goal to force lawmakers to do more on climate issues. They have also targeted events featuring federal officials like Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and senior White House climate adviser John Podesta.

The White House has remained silent on any future relationship with Iran in light of Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist leaders claiming Iran helped plan the surprise attacks against Israel. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House at least three times this week inquiring if the U.S. would participate in negations and return to the nuclear deal if evidence is found that Iran helped plan the brutal attacks against Israel. The White House’s press office ultimately referred Fox News Digital to the National Security Council Monday, which did not respond to the inquiry. 

News broke Sunday that Iranian security officials allegedly approved Hamas’ plan to attack Israel during a meeting in Beirut last Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Hamas and Hezbollah leaders said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps worked with Hamas since August on air, land and sea attack plans. 

Following the report, U.S. leaders said they have not found direct evidence of Iran planning the attacks in coordination with Hamas but noted that Iran has long supported Hamas, and the nation holds “a degree of complicity” in the attacks. 

HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH SAY IRAN HELPED PLAN DEADLY ATTACK ON ISRAEL: REPORT

“We are looking through the information streams. We haven’t seen hard, tangible evidence that Iran was directly involved in participating in or resourcing and planning these sets of complex attacks that Hamas pulled off over the weekend,” Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby said Tuesday, something echoed later on in the day by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who again stressed that the U.S. has no evidence that Iran knew about the attacks in advance or that it helped Hamas.

BIDEN’S APPEASEMENT OF IRAN LOOMS OVER ISRAEL ATTACK: ‘IT’S DUMB POLICY AND IT’S EVIL’

Both Sullivan and Kirby’s comments this week echo what a U.S. official told Fox News Digital on Sunday evening, that “of course” Iran is in the picture, but that U.S. officials currently do not have information corroborating the report. 

REPUBLICAN SENATORS BASH BIDEN’S $6B IRAN DEAL IN PUSH TO SUPPORT ISRAEL 

When asked specifically about the future of the U.S. relationship with Iran, however, the White House has not said if leaders would return to the negotiating table for the Iran nuclear deal or if the U.S. strategy with Iran will change in light of terrorist leaders claiming Iran helped with the attacks. 

World powers, including the U.S. and the United Kingdom, reached a nuclear deal with Iran in 2015, formerly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, after years of international tensions that Iran was working to build a nuclear bomb. The agreement limited some of Iran’s nuclear activities, while allowing international authorities to carry out inspections. Sanctions on Tehran were lifted in exchange. 

Former President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in 2018 after slamming it as “defective at its core.”

IRAN-LINKED TERRORISTS, GUERRILLAS SURROUND ISRAEL: HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THEM

“At the heart of the Iran deal was a giant fiction, that a murderous regime desired only a peaceful, nuclear energy program,” Trump said at the time. “Today, we have definitive proof that this Iranian promise was a lie.”

Under the Biden administration, officials have signaled they hope to return to the deal if Iran comes back into compliance. 

“The JCPOA has not been on our agenda since September, when Iran turned its back on a deal that was on the table, but we are still very much open to diplomacy,” a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital back in April. 

The Biden administration has also come under scrutiny this week for a $6 billion prisoner swap deal with Iran last month. Republicans have claimed that the money helped free up resources to fund the attacks, though Biden administration leaders have pushed back on the claims. 

“I think it’s important for people to remember that not a single dollar … of those funds has gone into Iran,” Kirby told Fox News’ Bret Baier on “America’s Newsroom” Tuesday. “Not one… not any. Nothing’s been allocated out of that fund, and we’re going to watch it.”

Chaos broke out in Israel early Saturday morning when Hamas launched attacks that took the nation by surprise. The terrorist organization has since fired more than 4,500 rockets at residential areas from the Gaza Strip, which has contributed to killing an estimated 1,000 Israelis and injuring thousands of others. 

The U.S. confirmed that 14 Americans are among those killed in Israel, and an undisclosed number of other Americans are unaccounted for and being held hostage under Hamas terrorists. 

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Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has meanwhile praised the attacks on social media, saying at the beginning of the war, the “Zionist regime will be eradicated at the hands of the Palestinian people and the Resistance forces throughout the region,” WSJ reported. 

A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday evening ordered the discovery phase of a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of knowingly providing funds that benefited Palestinian terrorists get underway.

America First Legal (AFL) first filed the lawsuit in 2022, alleging that President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken resumed payments to the Palestinian Authority (PA) that former President Trump ended in order to be in compliance with the Taylor Force Act — a federal law that prohibits the government from sending American taxpayer dollars to the PA until it stops supporting terrorism. 

The lawsuit claims the Biden administration has transferred nearly half a billion American taxpayer dollars “to directly benefit and subsidize the Palestinian Authority” while admitting that the PA still operates its “Pay to Slay” program – which encourages terrorist attacks against persons living in and visiting the State of Israel.

Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, of the Northern District of Texas, found Tuesday that AFL’s “recent production of records shows that the Government knew its economic support fund (ESF) funding in the West Bank and Gaza was benefiting Palestinian terrorists, thereby ‘increasing the risk of terrorist attacks against the Plaintiffs and others similarly situated.’”

BLINKEN DELETES SOCIAL MEDIA POST CALLING FOR ISRAEL-HAMAS ‘CEASE-FIRE’

“And they aver that the Government’s ‘admission that its activities in the West Bank and Gaza benefit Hamas suggests, with reasonable particularity, the possible existence of other facts, currently hidden, establishing traceability,’” the order says.

“These reasons, in concert with Hamas’s recent attack on Israel that killed fourteen Americans and resulted in others being held hostage, provide a sufficient basis for Plaintiffs Request,” Kacsmaryk wrote. 

AFL asked the court to grant what is called expedited and limited jurisdictional discovery, which will require the Biden administration to produce related documents and testimony for the court. 

The legal group represents Congressman Ronny Jackson, R-Texas; Stuart and Robbi Force, parents of West Point graduate Taylor Force murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in Tel Aviv – after whom the Taylor Force Act was named; and Sarri Singer, the survivor of a suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus. 

“This case is about the Palestinian Authority’s decades-long program of financial payments, social services, misinformation, and indoctrination to incentivize terrorist attacks against persons living in or visiting the State of Israel. The program is known as ‘Pay to Slay,’” the lawsuit states. 

WHITE HOUSE SPOX PRESSED ON IRAN’S $6 BILLION IN UNFROZEN FUNDS AFTER HAMAS UNLEASHES TERROR IN ISRAEL

“Under Pay to Slay, the Palestinian Authority rewards terrorists and/or their families with increased rewards in proportion to the casualties inflicted. Terrorists who are married, or have children, or are Israeli residents/citizens receive an additional payment. Terrorists who spend more than 5 years (in a single term or cumulatively) in prison are paid a guaranteed salary by the Palestinian Authority for the rest of their lives,” the lawsuit explains.

“Every terrorist, regardless of their affiliations or the identity of their victims, is paid by the Palestinian Authority. This includes members of designated terror organizations, such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who kill U.S. citizens,” the lawsuit alleges. 

According to the suit, the “Pay to Slay” program beneficiaries include the family of Bashar Masalha who stabbed 11 people and murdered 28-year-old U.S. Army Iraq and Afghanistan war Taylor Force on March 8, 2016. Mr. Force was visiting Israel as part of his graduate program. Shortly after his death, Congress passed the legislating in his memory. 

WHITE HOUSE ROASTS ‘SQUAD’ DEMOCRATS FOR ‘REPUGNANT’ COMMENTS AFTER BRUTAL HAMAS MURDERS: ‘DISGRACEFUL’

In the Taylor Force Act, Congress determined that “The Palestinian Authority’s practice of paying salaries to terrorists serving in Israeli prisons, as well as to the families of deceased terrorists, is an incentive to commit acts of terror.”

Through the Act, Congress prohibited the Executive Branch from providing any grant or award from U.S. taxpayer funds available for assistance under chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 that “directly benefits the Palestinian Authority” unless the Secretary of State certifies that the Palestinian Authority is taking credible steps to end acts of violence against Israeli citizens and United States citizens and has terminated “Pay to Slay.”

Congress also made it clear that the Palestinian Authority could directly benefit from U.S. taxpayer-funded projects in the West Bank or Gaza, or operate the “Pay to Slay” program, but not both. 

The lawsuit outlines that the Palestinian Authority chose “Pay to Slay” and consequently, the Trump Administration terminated funding. 

AFL alleges, however, that when President Biden took office in January 2021, his administration transferred “hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers to the Palestinian Authority despite “Pay to Slay” and contrary to the Taylor Force Act.”

“Contrary to law, they have transferred nearly half a billion American taxpayer dollars to directly benefit and subsidize the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, the defendants are unlawfully laundering U.S. taxpayer funds through non-governmental organizations to directly benefit the Palestinian Authority,” the lawsuit alleges. 

The lawsuit says that at the time the complaint was filed in court, President Biden and Secretary Blinken “admit that the Palestinian Authority operates ‘Pay to Slay’ to encourage terrorist attacks against persons living in and visiting the State of Israel.” 

The lawsuit was filed in December 2022. 

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As of July 2023, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers were still requesting an update from Blinken on the administration’s plan to end “Pay to Slay.”

On Sept. 27, the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on efforts to stop “Pay to Slay.”

Former Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams testified before the committee that he believes the Biden administration has been encouraging other nations, like Saudi Arabia, to give the PA case, undermining the Taylor Force Act. 

Blinken is expected Wednesday to meet with senior Israeli officials and “reiterate his condolences for the victims of the terrorist attacks against Israel and condemn those attacks in the strongest terms,” a statement from his office said Tuesday. 

“ The Secretary will also reaffirm the United States’ solidarity with the government and people of Israel,” the statement said. “ He will also discuss measures to bolster Israel’s security and underscore the United States’ unwavering support for Israel’s right to defend itself.”

The State Department and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment,

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., made his pitch to fellow Republicans to become the next House speaker on Wednesday.

Scalise appeared on Fox News to discuss ongoing Republican deliberations on who will replace former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Scalise is facing a challenger in Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who has been endorsed by former President Trump.

“One of the things I’ve been talking about as Speaker Steve Scalise is I will be challenging Joe Biden on day one to focus on securing the border,” Scalise said when asked about the U.S.-Mexico border.

Scalise went on to say that McCarthy has chosen not to enter the speaker race for a second time, and he argued that he has the votes necessary to secure the position.

‘UNMITIGATED S—SHOW’: HOUSE REPUBLICANS FUME OVER SPEAKER VACANCY AMID ISRAEL CRISIS

“Our momentum has been growing. I feel like we have the votes to do it – and not only do it today, but to go up on the House floor and get 218 votes, and then get back to work for the American people that elected us,” he said.

Scalise later said that he is confident the House will have a speaker by the end of the day, regardless of who it is.

HOUSE VOTES TO REMOVE KEVIN MCCARTHY AS SPEAKER IN HISTORIC FIRST

Not all Republicans are so confident, however. GOP lawmakers are expected to hold their interparty election at 10 a.m. after getting briefed on the unfolding crisis in Israel – which adds a sense of urgency as lawmakers scramble to restore order in Congress.

“I don’t know if by the end of this week we will have a speaker. If you were to ask me a couple days ago, pre-Israel being horrifically attacked by Hamas, I would have told you that it would have been a month before we had a speaker,” Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., told reporters after a closed-door GOP meeting Tuesday night.

GAETZ ‘OPEN-MINDED’ ON RULES CHANGE TO ELIMINATE MOTION TO VACATE, WOULD SUPPORT JORDAN OR SCALISE AS SPEAKER

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Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., was also doubtful a candidate will be chosen by the end of the day.

“I think there’s some [lawmakers] that have some problems with past behavior and each other, and so I think it’s going to take more than one day to get this done,” Murphy told Fox News Digital.

Fox News’ Liz Elkind contributed to this report.

The White House has remained silent on any future relationship with Iran in light of Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist leaders claiming Iran helped plan the surprise attacks against Israel. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House at least three times this week inquiring if the U.S. would participate in negations and return to the nuclear deal if evidence is found that Iran helped plan the brutal attacks against Israel. The White House’s press office ultimately referred Fox News Digital to the National Security Council Monday, which did not respond to the inquiry. 

News broke Sunday that Iranian security officials allegedly approved Hamas’ plan to attack Israel during a meeting in Beirut last Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Hamas and Hezbollah leaders said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps worked with Hamas since August on air, land and sea attack plans. 

Following the report, U.S. leaders said they have not found direct evidence of Iran planning the attacks in coordination with Hamas but noted that Iran has long supported Hamas, and the nation holds “a degree of complicity” in the attacks. 

HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH SAY IRAN HELPED PLAN DEADLY ATTACK ON ISRAEL: REPORT

“We are looking through the information streams. We haven’t seen hard, tangible evidence that Iran was directly involved in participating in or resourcing and planning these sets of complex attacks that Hamas pulled off over the weekend,” Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby said Tuesday, something echoed later on in the day by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who again stressed that the U.S. has no evidence that Iran knew about the attacks in advance or that it helped Hamas.

BIDEN’S APPEASEMENT OF IRAN LOOMS OVER ISRAEL ATTACK: ‘IT’S DUMB POLICY AND IT’S EVIL’

Both Sullivan and Kirby’s comments this week echo what a U.S. official told Fox News Digital on Sunday evening, that “of course” Iran is in the picture, but that U.S. officials currently do not have information corroborating the report. 

REPUBLICAN SENATORS BASH BIDEN’S $6B IRAN DEAL IN PUSH TO SUPPORT ISRAEL 

When asked specifically about the future of the U.S. relationship with Iran, however, the White House has not said if leaders would return to the negotiating table for the Iran nuclear deal or if the U.S. strategy with Iran will change in light of terrorist leaders claiming Iran helped with the attacks. 

World powers, including the U.S. and the United Kingdom, reached a nuclear deal with Iran in 2015, formerly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, after years of international tensions that Iran was working to build a nuclear bomb. The agreement limited some of Iran’s nuclear activities, while allowing international authorities to carry out inspections. Sanctions on Tehran were lifted in exchange. 

Former President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in 2018 after slamming it as “defective at its core.”

IRAN-LINKED TERRORISTS, GUERRILLAS SURROUND ISRAEL: HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THEM

“At the heart of the Iran deal was a giant fiction, that a murderous regime desired only a peaceful, nuclear energy program,” Trump said at the time. “Today, we have definitive proof that this Iranian promise was a lie.”

Under the Biden administration, officials have signaled they hope to return to the deal if Iran comes back into compliance. 

“The JCPOA has not been on our agenda since September, when Iran turned its back on a deal that was on the table, but we are still very much open to diplomacy,” a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital back in April. 

The Biden administration has also come under scrutiny this week for a $6 billion prisoner swap deal with Iran last month. Republicans have claimed that the money helped free up resources to fund the attacks, though Biden administration leaders have pushed back on the claims. 

“I think it’s important for people to remember that not a single dollar … of those funds has gone into Iran,” Kirby told Fox News’ Bret Baier on “America’s Newsroom” Tuesday. “Not one… not any. Nothing’s been allocated out of that fund, and we’re going to watch it.”

Chaos broke out in Israel early Saturday morning when Hamas launched attacks that took the nation by surprise. The terrorist organization has since fired more than 4,500 rockets at residential areas from the Gaza Strip, which has contributed to killing an estimated 1,000 Israelis and injuring thousands of others. 

The U.S. confirmed that 14 Americans are among those killed in Israel, and an undisclosed number of other Americans are unaccounted for and being held hostage under Hamas terrorists. 

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Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has meanwhile praised the attacks on social media, saying at the beginning of the war, the “Zionist regime will be eradicated at the hands of the Palestinian people and the Resistance forces throughout the region,” WSJ reported. 

The Biden administration issued regulations impacting air conditioners and refrigerators in an effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but experts warn the rules will drive consumer prices higher.

As part of the administration’s efforts to combat “climate-damaging” hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a rule to accelerate an economy-wide transition to more advanced refrigeration and cooling technologies that don’t use HFCs, and proposed a second rule to manage HFCs in existing products. HFCs are chemicals common in household appliances, but environmentalists say they contribute to global warming.

“Today’s actions embody President Biden’s leadership on the climate crisis by tackling these planet warming chemicals while investing in American technology and innovation,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement after unveiling the regulations late last week. 

“This final rule supports our transition away from HFCs and positions our nation to be competitive on the global stage, while the proposed emissions reduction and reclamation program will help ensure we achieve our national HFC phasedown,” he continued.

BIDEN ADMIN CRACKS DOWN ON AIR CONDITIONERS AS WAR ON APPLIANCES CONTINUES

White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi added that the “ambitious new action from EPA” would combat “climate-damaging HFCs” and create jobs.

However, energy experts warned that the EPA’s regulations targeting HFCs will ultimately drive prices higher for new products and repairs while harming consumers.

FAILED BIDEN NOMINEE QUIETLY APPOINTED TO TOP ROLE OVERSEEING WAR ON HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES

“This is likely to raise the costs — it may raise it substantially — of your next new air conditioning system,” Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “One of the issues is that the new refrigerants, the new eco-friendly refrigerants, are classified as flammable. So, there are all kinds of precautions that have to be taken when you have an air conditioning system with flammable refrigerants.”

“This is putting the climate agenda above the best interests of consumers,” Lieberman continued. “Anybody who wants the eco-friendly version is free to buy it regardless. The only thing that these regulations do is make the more expensive, but supposedly environmentally-friendly option, the only option. And that could only be bad news for prices, especially when you’re restricting competition in this manner.”

The actions Friday, which are set to go into effect in early 2025, came years after Congress passed and former President Donald Trump signed bipartisan American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act in December 2020 as part of a sweeping omnibus package. The legislation authorized the EPA to implement the 15-year phase-down of HFCs and was first introduced by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., in 2019.

Additionally, in September 2022, Democrats and more than a dozen Republicans voted in favor of ratifying the Kigali Amendment, a global agreement first introduced in 1987 under the United Nations’ Montreal Protocol which requires signers to reduce usage of HFCs by 85% by 2033. The provision has been ratified by 138 international parties including the European Union.

BIDEN ADMIN BEGINS ENFORCING NATIONWIDE LIGHTBULB BANS, IGNITING BACKLASH FROM GOP: ‘LIBERAL FANTASIES’

“We’re dealing with a situation now where American consumers are being hit by inflation on goods such as food, fuel, products, appliances and then we’re going to add on top of that a regulatory restriction that increases costs for all Americans related to something that is really important for people — especially in hot climates in southern states or in the southwest — which is air conditioning,” Brett Schaefer, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, previously told Fox News Digital.

“It also deals with businesses such as convenience stores, grocery stores, and others who use a lot of air conditioning and cooling equipment in the course of their normal businesses,” he added. “So, this potentially could add significant costs for Americans down the road.”

Schaefer argued the federal government should pursue HFC restrictions via domestic legislation to allow a reversal if consumer costs become too onerous.

In 2018, Schaefer co-authored a report highlighting how the Kigali Amendment would lead to higher costs. The report stated that the Kigali Amendment is mainly supported by environmentalists who advocate for the elimination of all greenhouse gasses and business interests “who stand to profit from the phase-out of cheaper HFCs.”

BIDEN ADMIN ISSUES RESTRICTIONS ON GAS FURNACES IN LATEST WAR ON APPLIANCES

At the same time, industry groups — including the National Association of Manufacturers; the Chamber of Commerce; American Chemistry Council, Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI); and the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy — have supported federal efforts to curb HFC usage.

“We are heartened that the EPA respected our sincere comments on the Technology Transitions Rule, addressing many of our concerns, and creating the certainty that is so important for industry innovation and job creation,” AHRI president and CEO Stephen Yurek said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.

“The rule establishes a very reasonable, 3-year sell-through period for HFC-containing equipment; and establishes effective dates that are within the first major step-down period under the AIM Act,” Yurek said. “While we and our member companies will – as always – carefully review the rule, we appreciate what we’ve seen in our initial review.”

Climate activists and Democrats broadly have pushed for HFC reductions, arguing that the chemical is a potent greenhouse gas which contributes to climate change.

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“Pound for pound, HFCs are one of the most potent sources of climate pollution, and this is a significant step forward in reducing the products that use them,” Alex Hillbrand, a technical director on the industry team at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a far-left environmental group, said in a statement following the EPA announcement last week. 

“Climate-friendlier alternatives to these HFCs are available that make these products work as well as – or better than – before,” Hillbrand continued. “Industry, environmental advocates and lawmakers from both parties are united in support of phasing down the use of these super pollutants. Now we will need to get to work bringing these climate-friendlier appliances to market while preventing the release of HFCs already in use out in the world.”

A culling of the field is underway in the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race.

With the thresholds to qualify for the next GOP presidential debate rising, crucial fundraising reports from the campaigns due in the coming days, and facing upcoming filing deadlines for the first two primaries, the still relatively-large field of Republican White House hopefuls may be further slashed in the weeks to come.

Former Rep. Will Hurd, facing a steep climb for the Republican nomination, ended his bid on Monday.

“It has become clear to me and my team that the time has come to suspend our campaign,” the former CIA spy turned three-term congressman from Texas said in a statement.

WILL HURD ENDORSED THIS RIVAL AS HE DROPPED OUT OF THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Hurd, who fell short of qualifying for the first two GOP nomination debates, became he second Republican presidential candidate to drop out of the race. Mayor Francis Suarez of Miami, Florida called it quits in August after failing to qualify for the first showdown.

THIS IS HOW MUCH DONALD TRUMP HAULED IN THE PAST THREE MONTHS IN FUNDRAISING

So who could be next?

All eyes are on two other long-shot contenders who, like Hurd, were unsuccessful in making the first two debates — Larry Elder and Perry Johnson.

Elder, a former nationally syndicated radio host and 2021 California gubernatorial recall election candidate, is no longer at the statehouse in Concord, New Hampshire, to file paperwork to appear on the ballot in the first-in-the-nation primary.

And Elder is also no longer on the New Hampshire GOP’s schedule to speak Friday at the First in the Nation Leadership Summit, which is a major Republican presidential cattle call in the state that holds the second overall contest in the GOP nominating calendar.

But Elder’s campaign manager told Fox News Digital that “he’s still in.”

Elder, asked by Fox News if he’s still a White House contender, responded that “Yes, I am still a candidate for president.” He said that “clearly, the way the RNC [Republican National Committee] shafted me-by preventing me from participating in the first debate despite my meeting their criteria-has hurt my campaign.” 

He pledged to “remain committed to campaigning on several issues.”

HAMAS ATTACK ON ISRAEL INSTANTLY ROCKS THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

Johnson, a business leader and quality control industry expert, is now mulling a pivot to run for the open Senate seat in his home state of Michigan.

“Obviously, it’s no secret that I’ve had a lot of calls to run for this seat because they do want to win this seat. But at this point in time, my focus is right on the presidential [race], and, believe me, that’s taking all my time and energy at this point,” Johnson told Fox News Digital earlier this month.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, the only one of the eight candidates on the stage at the first debate in August who failed to qualify for last month’s second showdown, is back campaigning in New Hampshire this week. 

His campaign told Fox News that he would file on Wednesday morning to place his name on the state’s presidential primary ballot.

But Hutchinson has said if he fails to make the stage at the third GOP presidential nomination debate, he’ll consider dropping out.

“If I don’t make that, we’ll re-evaluate where we are,” Hutchinson told reporters two weeks ago, as he referred to the third debate, which will be held Nov. 8 in Miami, Florida.

When asked for clarification if his response meant he would consider dropping out, Hutchinson answered, “Sure.”

Besides the RNC’s rising debate thresholds to make the stage at the next showdown, the candidates also face upcoming filing deadlines. They have until Oct. 27 to place their names on the ballot in New Hampshire, and face an Oct. 31 deadline in South Carolina, which holds the fourth contest — and first southern primary in the GOP nominating calendar.

The candidates also must file their July-September third quarter of fundraising figures with the Federal Election Commission by Oct. 15.

A lackluster fundraising report could be the death knell for some of the candidates struggling to make the debate stage.

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“The third quarter report is incredibly important for all the campaigns, but certainly those who are struggling to break out right now and garner attention, this will be the last financial indicator we see until very close to Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary for these campaigns,” longtime New Hampshire based Republican consultant Jim Merrill told Fox News.

Merrill, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, said that “whether it’s making the next debate stage or just evidence in grassroots momentum for the campaign, it’s going to be really important for these campaigns to show that they not only have strong numbers of cash on hand, but also grassroots support for a growing national audience.”

Alex Castellanos, a GOP strategist with decades of experience, also pointed to the fundraising reports and predicted that some of the candidates will “soon run out of gas as they try to drive to the next debate in Miami.”

Fox News’ Andrew Murray contributed to this report

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

Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate and conservative firebrand Kari Lake formally announced Tuesday she will seek the Republican nomination for Senate in what is expected to be one of the most closely watched races of 2024.

“I am not going to retreat. I’m going to stand on top of this hill with every single one of you. And I know you’re on my side as I formally announce my candidacy for the United States Senate,” Lake told a crowd in Scottsdale, Arizona as they cheered the longtime former television anchor turned MAGA champion who narrowly lost her race to be the state’s governor last year. 

She will face off with Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, the only other major candidate in the race for the GOP nomination, and the winner will likely face Phoenix-area Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is seen as the front-runner for his party’s nomination.

KARI LAKE BOOSTS NATIONAL PROFILE AS TOP TRUMP SURROGATE, GOP CAMPAIGNER AHEAD OF LIKELY SENATE RUN

Incumbent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who left the Democrat Party to become an independent last year, has not yet said whether she will run for re-election.

Lake spent the months leading up to her announcement boosting her national profile by hitting the pavement as a top surrogate for former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and campaigning for Republican candidates across the country.

In the past three months alone, Lake has traveled to 14 states to headline events and address Republican organizations at the state and county levels, and has even thrown her support behind candidates in other Senate races. 

GOP, DEMS TEAM UP TO RIP ‘DELUSIONAL’ SINEMA OVER ‘PLAN’ TO SWIPE THEIR VOTERS IN INDEPENDENT REELECTION BID

In a statement following Lake’s entry into the race, Lamb said he was the “only one proven conservative winner” running for Senate in Arizona.

“I am a lifelong conservative who has dedicated my life to protecting Arizonans and keeping them safe when Democrat policies make that job almost impossible. I have been in Arizona fighting for the people that call this great state home. I’m not a talker, I’m a doer, and I win elections. That is what separates me from my opponents,” he said.

Gallego’s campaign reacted to Lake’s announcement by predicting voters would reject her “again,” referencing her loss to current Democrat Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs last year.

FORMER SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIER GETS ANOTHER BIG NAME ENDORSEMENT IN RACE TO FLIP SWING HOUSE SEAT FROM DEMS

“Arizonans — including a significant chunk of Republicans — already rejected Kari Lake once because of her dangerous plans to ban abortion and undermine our democracy. Her extremism should disqualify her from public office — and it will. Again,” Gallego campaign spokesperson Hanna Goss told Fox News Digital.

Fox also reached out to a spokesperson for Sinema, but did not receive a response.

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Democrats currently hold a narrow one-seat majority in the Senate, with three independent senators, including Sinema, caucusing with them.

Arizona is one of Republicans’ top targets to flip from the Democrats in their efforts to regain the majority in 2024, in addition to the Pennsylvania, Ohio, Montana, Nevada and West Virginia seats also up for grabs.

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

Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. 

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All eyes on Israel

UNWAVERING: Biden shuns calls to de-escalate after Hamas terror attacks, vows support to Israel …Read more

‘IMMEDIATE PRIORITY’: GOP Rep demands Biden take action to rescue ‘many’ Americans stuck in Israel …Read more

‘ABHORRENT AND HEINOUS’: Top Republican slams Harvard after student orgs blame Israel over Gaza attacks …Read more

BAN IRAN: DeSantis declares support for Israel during war, announces new proposals to block Iranian businesses in Florida …Read more

‘ALL WEAPONS’ NECESSARY: Republican lawmaker ramps up pressure on Biden admin amid bloody war in Israel …Read more

‘SQUAD’ GOALS: Rep. Ilhan Omar suggests ‘solution’ for Israel is not through military, but negotiating with Hamas …Read more

‘IT SICKENS ME’: Dem lawmaker blasts ‘Squad’ over calls to end Israel funding …Read more

NUMBERS SPEAK: Democrats support Palestinians over Israel, GOP overwhelmingly stands with US ally: 2023 poll …Read more

DELETED TWEET: Blinken removes tweet calling for cease-fire in Israel after backlash …Read more

White House watch

SPECIAL COUNSEL: Biden interviewed by special counsel in classified documents case …Read more

‘FLAGRANTLY UNLAWFUL’: GOP attorneys general push for fix to ‘catch-and-release loophole’ at border …Read more

SECURITY CONCERNS: Border Patrol sees thousands of ‘special interest’ illegal immigrants …Read more

TRIP CANCELED: Blinken suspends plans Middle East trip including Saudi Arabia visit amid Hamas-Israel war …Read more

IN FOCUS: Biden’s depletion of emergency oil supply may come back to haunt amid Israel-Hamas war …Read more

Seeking a speaker

HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE: Here’s where we stand with the House speaker race …Read more

JORDAN V SCALISE: Jordan leads Scalise in public endorsements ahead of House speaker vote …Read more

MAD HOUSE: Republican weigh rules change for secret speaker ballot …Read more

EXPERTS WEIGH IN: Experts give their take on whether empty speaker’s chair affected Hamas’ attack on Israel …Read more

‘BIGOTRY AND CALLOUSNESS’: AOC, other liberals slam Democratic Socialists over pro-Palestine rally in NYC …Read more

Campaign trail

FOREIGN POLICY POSITIONING: Middle East Conflict spills into the Road for The White House …Read more

CALLING IT QUITS: A second Republican presidential candidate drops out of the 2024 nomination race …Read more

GAME CHANGER: GOP candidate reveals millions raised in race that ‘will determine control of the Senate’ …Read more

CHANGE OF PLANS: Trump will not visit Capitol Hill as previously planned amid speaker fight, source says …Read more

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FIRST ON FOX: A group of House and Senate Republicans penned a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the nation’s top energy regulator, asking it to stop slow-walking approval for a key natural gas project in the Pacific Northwest.

In the letter sent Friday, the eight lawmakers — led by Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., and joined by fellow Oregon GOP Rep. Cliff Bentz, four other House Republicans and Idaho GOP Sens. Mike Crapo and James Risch — called for the immediate approval of the Gas Transmission Northwest XPress Project (GTNXP). The project would upgrade three existing compressor stations, increasing capacity on an existing system that has transported natural gas for decades.

“This delay has created significant uncertainty for energy users in the states and districts we represent and will likely subject them to higher priced energy alternatives,” the group wrote in the letter first obtained by Fox News Digital. “It is unreasonable for a project like GTN XPress, which meets all the Commission’s criteria and impacts no landowners, to be subject to such lengthy delays. It is time for FERC to act.”

“Further, according to FERC’s FEIS (final environmental impact statement) the project would not have significant environmental impacts,” they continued. “Regarding GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions more generally, increasing natural gas use in electricity generation has already helped the nation achieve significant reductions in GHG emissions, with electric sector emissions dropping 32% between 2005 and 2019 largely driven by the transition from coal to natural gas.”

WHITE HOUSE PROHIBITING OFFICIAL TRAVEL TO FOSSIL FUEL CONFERENCES, INTERNAL MEMO SHOWS

The letter added that an increase in natural gas power generation would help states like Oregon meet carbon reduction goals, since it relies on coal for about 25% of its electricity generation. Coal produces greater emissions than natural gas.

GTNXP’s developer TC Energy first proposed the project in October 2021. According to its application filed with FERC at the time, the project would leverage existing infrastructure to increase GTN’s incremental mainline capacity by 150,000 dekatherms per day, enough to power thousands of additional homes in the region. The GTN pipeline travels through Idaho, Washington and Oregon and serves California customers.

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However, FERC — which is chaired by Willie Phillips, a President Biden appointee and Democrat — has inexplicably delayed granting final approval for TC Energy to move ahead with construction in the project despite greenlighting in its environmental impact statement published in October 2022. Democrats and environmental groups have urged FERC to reject the project, potentially causing the delays.

In July, FERC removed the project from its open meeting agenda without explanation. One day before the meeting, though, Democratic Oregon Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden wrote to the regulator, imploring it to reject the project. The commission again opted against discussing it during its following meeting on Sept. 21, which earned a pointed rebuke from TC Energy.

“This unprecedented delay is adding undue uncertainty for our constituents’ energy certainty and diverging from FERC precedent as well as the intent of the Natural Gas Act,” the lawmakers concluded in their letter Friday. “The Commission should provide certainty to providers and consumers across the Northwest, and issue their decision on this important project as soon as possible.”

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A FERC spokesperson previously declined to comment to Fox News Digital on the repeated delays, citing the agency’s policy of not discussing internal pending matters. The next FERC meeting where GTNXP may be discussed is slated for Oct. 19.

In addition to GOP lawmakers, local labor unions, electric utility companies and energy groups have rallied in favor of GTNXP, arguing it will produce jobs and solidify energy supplies.

The White House is standing by President Biden’s statement earlier this year that climate change poses the largest threat to humanity, even as thousands of people have been killed or wounded after a radical Iran-backed terrorist group unleashed violence across Israel over the weekend.

John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, reaffirmed Monday that the president and his administration still believe climate change is the largest threat facing the U.S. and world since it is capable of “wiping out all human life.” His comments came as thousands of people, including hundreds of innocent civilians, have been killed or injured during the conflict triggered over the weekend after a series of unprovoked attacks by the Hamas terrorist group.

“Absolutely he does,” Kirby told Fox News when asked whether Biden stands by his comments on the risks posed by climate change. “Climate change is an existential threat. It actually threatens and is capable of wiping out all human life on earth over time.”

“The president believes wholeheartedly that climate change is an existential threat to all of human life on the planet. That’s just science,” he continued. “But it doesn’t mean that we turn our back on the other challenges facing this country and our allies and partners around the world.”

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Biden remarked in January that climate change poses the “single-most existential threat to humanity we’ve ever faced, including nuclear weapons,” adding that it is a “real big problem.” Months earlier, he said global warming is “literally an existential threat to our nation and to the world” and posed a clear and present danger to the entire world.

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

POMPEO TORCHES KIRBY AS WH SHIFTS BLAME TO TRUMP FOR AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL

Since taking office in early 2021, Biden has pursued an aggressive climate change agenda, pushing for a rapid transition to green energy while issuing regulations to curb the future use of fossil fuels which generate the vast majority of power across U.S. sectors.

Meanwhile, of those reported dead as a result of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, at least 11 were confirmed to be American citizens.

Overall, the escalating conflict has claimed the lives of at least 1,600 people, including at least 1,000 Israelis, according to the latest information.

BLINKEN DELETES POST CALLING FOR CEASEFIRE

“We have only started striking Hamas,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address. “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations.”

Earlier Tuesday, Israeli warplanes unleashed an aerial bombardment of downtown Gaza City, and the nation is considering sending its troops on the ground into Palestinian territories.

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“Our countries will support Israel in its efforts to defend itself and its people against such atrocities. We further emphasize that this is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage,” the governments of the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Italy said in a statement Monday.

“Over the coming days, we will remain united and coordinated, together as allies, and as common friends of Israel, to ensure Israel is able to defend itself, and to ultimately set the conditions for a peaceful and integrated Middle East region,” they added.

Fox News Digital’s Lawrence Richard and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Tuesday a wave of new proposed policies demonstrating his administration’s solidarity with Israel amid its war against Hamas terrorists.

DeSantis made the announcement during a news conference at the Shul of Bal Harbour synagogue in Florida. He connected Iran to the violence perpetrated by Hamas this weekend and urged President Biden’s administration to take more drastic action.

“When Iran gets more money, they are not using it to make life better for the people of Iran,” DeSantis said. “What they use it for is to fund terrorism throughout the Middle East and throughout the world. They send the money to Hezbollah, they send the money to Hamas, and that’s exactly what we’ve seen. And yes, Iran was involved in orchestrating this attack against Israel. We know that, it’s been reported. They deny it, but we’re smarter than that.”

“We know that we have an opportunity to do something forceful that will make a difference in terms of the substance. But I think symbolically, but also important, and that is today our proposal that as we stand with Israel, we sanction Iran,” the governor continued. “And so we are going to roll out for the next legislative session a proposal to increase Florida sanctions on Iran and to block Iranian business in our state.”

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“We should use all available avenues to choke off money going to the Iranian regime,” he added.

DeSantis’ new policies expand existing bans on Iranian-owned businesses from operating in Florida.

Iran has a long history of funding terrorism in Israel through both Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah to Israel’s north. The Israeli military has already carried out more than 1,000 airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza following Saturday’s bloodshed.

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Hamas’ surprise assault killed at least 900 Israelis and left more than 2,000 wounded.

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Israel has deployed tens of thousands of troops to the Gaza border, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suggested that a ground invasion may be imminent. He told Biden in a Monday phone call that “we have to go in.”

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DeSantis said Tuesday that it is Israel’s right to respond forcefully to the Hamas assault. He encouraged Israeli leaders to be severe enough in their response to dissuade any future attacks.