NationalWatch

The clock’s ticking for the Republican White House candidates still trying to make the stage for Wednesday’s second GOP presidential nomination debate.

The candidates have until 9 p.m. ET Monday — 48 hours before the FOX Business- and Univision-hosted showdown at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California — to reach polling and donor thresholds required by the Republican National Committee to qualify for the debate.

According to a Fox News count, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum on Saturday became the seventh candidate to meet the RNC’s criteria.

Burgum’s campaign and an allied super PAC made investments over the past week to try to boost the national ID of a politician who is far from a household name outside his native North Dakota in an attempt to make the stage. And it appears to have paid off.

FIRST ON FOX: THE RNC RAISES THE BAR FOR THE CANDIDATES TO MAKE THE STAGE AT THE THIRD PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Still aiming to qualify is former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who, along with Burgum, took the stage last month at the first GOP presidential nominating debate.

“We made the last debate. It surprised everybody. People had counted us out. So, don’t count us out in this next debate,” Hutchinson emphasized in a recent Fox News Digital interview.

FIRST ON FOX: RNC THREATENS TO PULL NEW HAMPSHIRE DEBATE IF STATE LEAPFROGS IOWA IN THE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATING CALENDAR

The RNC, which is organizing the GOP presidential primary debates, raised the thresholds the candidates need to reach to make the stage at the second showdown.

To participate in the second debate, each candidate must have a minimum of 50,000 unique donors to their campaigns or exploratory committees, including 200 donors in 20 or more states. The candidates must also reach 3% support in two national polls or reach 3% in one national poll and 3% in two polls conducted in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina, the four states that lead off the Republican presidential nominating calendar.

Additionally, candidates are required to sign a pledge to support the eventual Republican presidential nominee. They must agree not to participate in any non-RNC-sanctioned debates for the rest of the 2024 election cycle and agree to data-sharing with the national party committee.

WATCH: MODERATORS PERINO, VARNEY, PREVIEW WEDENSDAY’S DEBATE

So far, according to a Fox News count, seven of the eight candidates who took part in last month’s first GOP presidential nomination debate have already met the RNC’s criteria.

They are, in alphabetical order, Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, biotech entrepreneur and political commentator Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.

Former President Donald Trump, who has reached the donor and polling thresholds, did not sign the RNC’s pledge. Pointing to his large lead over his rivals for the nomination, he did not attend the first debate and has already made alternative plans for Wednesday night.

Burgum’s campaign last week launched a new national voter contact program that aimed to boost his support in the polls.

“The direct text video-to-voter program hyper-targets highly persuadable Republicans and conservative-leaning independents likely to vote in the Republican presidential primary with a tested video message most likely to move numbers,” the Burgum campaign said in a release.

The move by the North Dakota governor’s presidential campaign came as the Burgum-aligned Best of America super PAC shelled out another $2 million to an existing $6 million national ad buy to try and boost the candidate’s poll numbers. 

It appears the investments paid off.

But Burgum told Fox News Digital last week that he would be on the ballot in Iowa and New Hampshire – the first two states to vote in the GOP presidential primary calendar – regardless of whether he made the second debate stage. 

“We’re going to be here because the voters of these two states decide who goes forward,” he emphasized.

Looking toward the second debate, Hutchinson emphasized it is “very important because a lot’s happened since the last debate.”

Hutchinson, who has yet to reach the polling and donor thresholds, told Fox News during a recent interview in Newton, Iowa, “We’re looking forward to being on the debate stage. We look to increasing those numbers.”

Among those still trying to qualify for the second debate — who did not make the stage for the first debate — are 2022 Michigan gubernatorial candidate, businessman and quality control expert Perry Johnson; former CIA agent and former Rep. Will Hurd of Texas; and Larry Elder, a former nationally syndicated radio host who was a candidate in California’s 2021 gubernatorial recall election.

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Hurd, who has said he will not sign the RNC’s pledge due to his vocal criticism and opposition to Trump, told Fox News earlier this month, “We’re working hard to meet those requirements.”

When asked if he would drop out of the race if he does not qualify for next week’s debate, Hurd said, “My focus right now is to hit those requirements to be on that second debate stage, and then we’ll go from there.”

Fox News’ Remy Numa contributed to this report.

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

President Biden spoke to the Congressional Black Caucus Saturday night in Washington, D.C., where he attributed Congress’ failure to reach a deal to avoid a government shutdown thus far and political violence to a group of “extreme Republicans.”

The president and Vice President Harris both delivered remarks at the annual awards dinner for the CBC Foundation 52nd Annual Legislative Conference National Town Hall. 

Harris said during her remarks that the CBC is helping to “lead the fight for reproductive freedom. Just as you continue to lead the fight for civil rights. And I do believe the right to be safe is also a civil right. Today, however, gun violence is the number one cause of death for children in America. But instead of protecting our children, extremists obstruct.” 

The vice president also blasted Florida officials for “intend[ing] to tell our children that enslaved people benefited from slavery.” She was referring to a controversial line in Florida’s new instruction on African American history, which addresses “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

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In taking the stage after Harris introduced him, Biden thanked his vice president for her partnership and “always fighting for freedom.” He said Harris is “doing an incredible job, and she really is. I told you I was gonna have a smart vice president and an African American woman, and we got one.” 

He also thanked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who received a Co-Chair’s Award during the event, saying “No wonder I’m doing okay.”

Biden said some members of Congress are “sowing so much division” and willing to shut down the government, referring to a few congressional Republicans who have signaled that they would not support the deal he brokered with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to avoid a government shutdown on October 1.

“Just a few months ago, after long negotiations between myself and the new speaker, we agreed to spending levels to government fund essential domestic and national security priorities, while still cutting the deficit by $1 trillion over the next decade,” Biden said. “Now, a small group of extreme Republicans don’t want to live up to the deal. So now everyone in America could be forced to pay the price.”

“Let’s be clear. If the government shuts down, that means members of Congress and members of the U.S. military are going to have to continue to work and not get paid,” he continued. “A government shutdown could impact everything from food safety to cancer research to Head Start programs for children. Funding the government is among the most basic responsibilities of Congress. And it’s time for Republicans to start doing the job America elected them to do.”

The president also spoke on the 2024 election, reiterating his previous comments claiming “democracy is at risk” and that there is a “battle for the soul of America.” Biden said Saturday that Americans no longer doubt that U.S. democracy is at stake now and was at stake in 2020.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRW DODGES QUESTIONS ON BIDEN REPEATING STORY AT CAMPAIGN EVENT

“And thank God, because of all of you, we won,” he said of the 2020 presidential election. “I might add, we won convincingly and clearly by a margin of seven million votes, 81 million votes cast. The most in history. And that victory withstood not one, but 60 legal court challenges and an insurrection on January 6. So I’m running again.”

Biden, 80, noted that there are conversations surrounding whether he fit for office given his advanced age, but said he “knew what to do” to support the U.S. and its allies when he took office in 2021.

“When I came to office, this nation was flat on its back,” Biden said. “I knew what to do. I vaccinated the nation and rebuilt the economy. When Russia invaded Ukraine. I knew what to do. I rebuilt NATO. And brought our alliance to rally the world. And above all, when democracy was taken I knew what to do.”

He later joked that he entered the U.S. Senate “200 years ago” in the early 1970s.

Addressing political division and violence, the president blamed former President Trump and his MAGA Republican base.

The president said hate groups all across American have been emboldened and that the intelligence community has said the greatest terroristic threat to the U.S. is domestic.

“That’s the greatest terrorist: domestic. Because far too often, it’s still the case, you can get killed or attacked walking on the streets of America just because you’re black or because you’re wearing a symbol of your faith … I want the entire nation to join me in sending the strongest, clearest, most powerful message possible that political violence in America is never, never, never acceptable in our democracy. Never. Because democracy is at stake,” he said.

Biden added, “Let there be no question Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans are determined to spread anger, hate, and division. They seek power at all costs, they’re determined to destroy this democracy. I can not watch that happen, nor can you. And I’ll always defend, protect and fight for our democracy.”

The president also claimed he “started off as a kid in the civil rights movement in Wilmington, Delaware when I was in high school.”

“When I ran the first time for the Senate at 29 years old, and Nixon won by 64% in my state, I won because virtually 90% of the African-American community — we have a large community — voted for me,” Biden said. “I owe you.”

Biden also explained that the 2017 Charlottesville shooting and Trump saying at the time that there are “very fine people on both sides” led him to seek the presidency in 2020.

“The president at the time was asked what happened. He said, quote, ‘There are very fine people on both sides. Very fine people on both sides.’ When I heard that, I knew I could no longer sit on the sidelines because the President of the United States said yes, drawing a moral equivalence equivalency between those who stood for hate, those stood against it,” Biden said.

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Biden also appeared to have some gaffes during his speech Saturday night, mispronouncing rapper LL Cool J’s name and initially referring to the artist as “boy” before quickly correcting himself. He was attempting to acknowledge LL Cool J and MC Lyte for their musical talents as the two artists received the Phoenix Award for their musical contributions at the annual awards dinner.

“Two of the great artists of our time representing the groundbreaking legacy of hip hop in America, LL Jay Cool J, uhhh…” Biden said as the crowd laughed. “By the way that boy — that man’s got biceps bigger than my thighs.”

Biden, notably, has a history of referring to African Americans as “boy,” a term considered a racial epithet when used to describe black men, including earlier this year when referring to Maryland’s Democrat Gov. Wes Moore, the state’s first black governor.

Republican 2024 White House hopeful and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in a new interview that aired Saturday, warned that the left will attempt to “weaponize” former President Donald Trump’s comments against six-week abortion bans. 

During an appearance on The Glenn Beck Podcast, DeSantis warned that a referendum for a constitutional amendment “to basically have abortion on demand” might be on the ballot in Florida.

“The left is pursuing it, and if that passes, that means the legislature can never do anything to protect life,” DeSantis said. “Do you think they’re going to run ads to Republicans and Independents, showing Trump, Trump voters, saying ‘Trump didn’t like this, vote the other way, for us’? Of course they are. They’re gonna weaponize what he said, to try to defeat the cause of life.” 

DESANTIS WARNS PRO-LIFE VOTERS TRUMP WILL ‘SELL YOU OUT’ AFTER EX-PRESIDENT’S CRITIQUE OF 6-WEEK ABORTION BAN

DeSantis last week warned pro-life Americans that Trump will “sell you out” on abortion after the former president, in his first network interview since leaving office on NBC “Meet the Press,” criticized the Florida governor’s support of a six-week abortion ban as a “terrible mistake.” Trump vowed to reach a deal between Republicans and Democrats on the number of weeks into pregnancy where abortion would be illegal, ripping Democrats for allegedly supporting late-term abortions. 

TRUMP BLASTED ONLINE AFTER ATTACK ON DESANTIS’ ABORTION BAN: ‘A TERRIBLE THING’

While state law in Florida currently prohibits most abortions after 15 weeks, DeSantis, in April, signed the Heartbeat Protection Act, which aims to restrict abortions after six weeks gestation, with exceptions including women who are victims of rape, incest and human trafficking, or whose baby has a devastating diagnosis of a fatal fetal abnormality. A court ruling this fall could determine whether the law will take effect. 

Trump later attempted to clarify his comment, credited himself for the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe V. Wade, which he says gave pro-life Americans bargaining power.

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“I was able to do something that nobody thought was possible, end Roe v. Wade,” Trump wrote on TRUTH Social. “For 52 years, people talked, spent vast amounts of money, but couldn’t get the job done. I got the job done! Thanks to the three great Supreme Court Justices I appointed, this issue has been returned to the States, where all Legal Scholars, on both sides, felt it should be.”

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

Former President Donald Trump is currently leading President Biden by 10 points among voters, according to a new poll. 

The Washington Post and ABC released the poll Sunday, which found that if the 2024 presidential election were held today, Trump would win 52% to 42% over Biden. Respondents also held a poor view of Biden’s handling of the economy and the U.S.-Mexico border, in addition to his age.

The Post downplayed the results of its own poll after it showed Trump with such a commanding lead, however.

“The sizable margin of Trump’s lead in this survey is significantly at odds with other public polls that show the general election contest a virtual dead heat,” the Post wrote Sunday. “The difference between this poll and others, as well as the unusual makeup of Trump’s and Biden’s coalitions in this survey, suggest it is probably an outlier.”

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Meanwhile, Biden’s approval rating sits at 37%, according to the poll, while 56% of respondents actively disapprove of his presidency.

Biden is facing a crisis of confidence among his own party members as well, with roughly 60% of Democrat and Democrat-leaning respondents saying they would prefer a different nominee.

FOX NEWS POLL: MAJORITY THINKS TRUMP DID SOMETHING ILLEGAL, YET SAY INVESTIGATIONS POLITICALLY MOTIVATED

The critics cited Biden’s age, his handling of the economy, and the ongoing border crisis as pain points with his administration.

Biden’s 2024 campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to launch an impeachment inquiry also polled well, with 58% of respondents saying that Biden is being held accountable under the law like any other president. Just 32% argued he was being unfairly victimized, the poll found.

Trump also holds an aggressive lead over Biden among younger voters, sporting a 20% lead over Biden among voters 35 and under.

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Age remains one of the most unpopular factors for Biden’s re-election campaign, however. 70% of respondents said he is too old to hold office, while just 50% said the same of Trump.

Biden, 80, is the oldest person ever to run for president in the U.S., followed closely by Trump, 77. Biden would be 82 by the time he enters office for a second term.

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WAPO/ABC conducted the poll from September 15-20, using a random sample of 1,006 U.S. adults and contacting them through both landlines and cellphones. The poll has a margin of error of 3.5%.

GOP presidential candidate and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Sunday he had no interest in running against Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.

“But let me ask you point-blank, would you run against Menendez?” NBC “Meet the Press” host Kristen Walker asked. 

“No, I have no interest in being in the United States Senate,” Christie said during an appearance on the program. 

“You rule it out completely?” Walker said, seeking clarification. 

“Yes, I have,” he said. “Throughout my entire career, I had a chance to appoint myself to the United States Senate. In 2013, when Frank Lautenberg passed away, and I was governor. If I didn’t appoint myself to the United States Senate, the easiest way to get there, I sure as heck am not going to run for it.” 

DEMOCRAT ANNOUNCES BOB MENENDEZ PRIMARY CHALLENGE IN WAKE OF LONG-TIME SENATOR’S BRIBERY INDICTMENT

Menendez was charged through an unsealed indictment Friday in the Southern District of New York with allegedly agreeing to use his official position to benefit New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes and Egypt’s government in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes. The indictment also charges Menendez’s wife, Nadine, and the three businessmen in the years-long bribery scheme. Federal prosecutors said the bribes included gold bars, cash and a luxury convertible. 

So far, Menendez has refused to resign his seat and insisted he will run for re-election in 2024 but stepped down from his position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Friday, as Senate Democratic Caucus rules require any members charged with a felony to abandon committee chair roles.

Earlier in the interview, Walker asked Christie if he believed Menendez’s indictment “undercuts the Republican argument that there are two tiers of justice in this country.” 

“I’m glad that the Justice Department acted, and they acted on some very horrific facts,” Christie said, referring to his seven years as U.S. attorney in New Jersey working 130 corruption cases. “There is no way that any public official has any legal or plausible or ethical explanation for having $500,000 in cash stuffed in jackets and envelopes throughout their home. Gold bars that have the fingerprints of DNA of someone who you were attempting to fix the system for.” 

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“I commend the Southern District of New York for doing the right thing. And by the way, I do not believe the whole Department of Justice has done things that were wrong. I believe what David Weiss in Delaware was wrong with Hunter Biden, and it gave people the sense that there were two tiers of justice,” Christie added. 

Walker interjected, noting Hunter Biden “now has been indicted,” before quickly pivoting. 

Hunter Biden was indicted earlier this month on federal gun charges out of Justice Department Special Counsel Weiss’ investigation.

But that was only after an original plea agreement collapsed in July. Hunter Biden was expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax as part of a plea deal to avoid jail time on a felony gun charge, but U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika of Delaware declined to accept the agreement during his first court appearance. She described the DOJ’s deal as unconstitutional, “not standard” and “different from what I normally see.”

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Hunter Biden was forced to plead not guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and one felony gun charge. Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware, had been leading the Hunter Biden investigation for years. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss as a special counsel amid allegations of politicization impacting prosecutorial decisions. 

Christie, who supported Trump in 2016 before becoming a staunch critic after a 2020 falling out, also said Sunday it was “unfortunate and selfish” for the former president to avoid the second GOP presidential debate scheduled Wednesday. During the NBC interview, Christie also predicted Kevin McCarthy’s House speakership would survive through the 2024 election. 

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

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said he would finish what former President Donald Trump started at the U.S.-Mexico border and complete the wall construction if elected in 2024.

Scott made the statement during a Sunday morning appearance on Fox News, telling host Griff Jenkins that Democrats don’t understand the border issue. He went on to blast the Biden administration for selling supplies that had been intended for the construction of the wall.

“Washington is out of touch with the rest of the nation. One of the reasons we need change in the nation’s capital is that Washington is so consistently broken that the American people don’t trust the people in Washington. I understand that,” Scott said. 

“As a guy who spends some time in Washington, but a whole lot of time in South Carolina, I can just say to the leaders of this nation today, bless your heart, which is a Southern way of saying you guys just don’t get it,” he added.

WITH FOUR MONTHS UNTIL THE FIRST VOTES, THE 2024 GOP BATTLE HEATS UP IN THE FIRST CAUCUS STATE

Scott went on to praise Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for his migrant bussing program, which has woken up deep blue cities across the country to the realities of the border crisis.

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“Biden refuses to fix a fixable problem at our southern border,” Scott said, adding that it would be fixed “not by selling the construction material to finish the wall – that’s what he’s doing – but by using the construction material to complete the wall,” he said.

While Scott is targeting Biden, he remains locked in a contested Republican presidential primary in which former President Donald Trump is miles ahead of the other candidates. Only Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Trump have consistently polled in the double digits in the primary.

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Scott’s appearance came more than a week after he opened up about his relationship status on the campaign trail. Scott has never been married and says he is now dating a “lovely Christian girl.”

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“As a guy who was raised in a single-parent household mired in poverty, I understand that devastation when a family breaks up. I live with the consequences of a father who was not there. I made a commitment to make sure that never happened in my life,” Scott highlighted. “I’m so thankful to know a risen savior that has helped guide my way, and I’m so thankful that he’s allowed my life to intersect at the right time with the right person. And I just say, praise the living God.”

Several left-wing activists and commentators took to social media to issue an identical message on Friday, equating the indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., on bribery charges to alleged ethics violations by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The message, which suggest that either Menendez and Thomas should both step down from their roles or that Menendez should only be pushed to resign if Thomas does, came after it was alleged in a federal indictment that the New Jersey senator had accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for favors.

“Here’s the deal: Menendez resigns. Clarence Thomas resigns. One standard. Corruption is corruption,” Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin wrote in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter.

Rubin’s message was echoed by several others, including retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who served as a witness during the first impeachment proceedings of former President Donald Trump.

MENENDEZ DEFIANT AS GROWING CHORUS OF DEMOCRATS CALL FOR HIS RESIGNATION

“Clarence Thomas resigns. Menendez resigns. One standard. Corruption is corruption,” Vindman wrote.

Several other accounts made posts with the same language, drawing criticism from conservatives across social media.

Blasting what appeared to be coordinated “talking points,” conservative activist Melissa Tate responded to Vindman and said, “Justice Clarence Thomas ain’t going nowhere sir.”

“Even the ‘Journalists’ gets their talking points from the regime,” Tate wrote in another tweet that featured a screenshot of the identical language being used by different people.

The similarity between Menendez and Thomas that was drawn by Rubin, Vindman, and others comes after a ProPublica report earlier this year revealed that Thomas had received gifts from Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow without reporting them. His defenders, however, have argued that he has followed the court’s reporting guidelines.

Several stories regarding Thomas and other Supreme Court justices have since followed, leading to left-wing attacks against the high court. In March, the New York Times reported that rules were modified to require justices and other federal judges to reveal more activities, such as private jet travel and visits to commercial properties.

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The Menendez indictment alleges that the senator and his wife, from at least 2018 through 2022 “engaged in a corrupt relationship” with three New Jersey businessmen.

“Today, I’m announcing that my office has obtained a three count indictment charging Senator Robert Menendez, his wife, Nadine Menendez, and three New Jersey businessmen, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes for bribery offenses,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said at a press conference on Friday morning. 

According to the indictment, the couple accepted “hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using Menendez’s power and influence as a senator to seek to protect and enrich Hana, Uribe, and Daibes and to benefit the Arab Republic of Egypt.”

The alleged bribes included gold, cash, payments toward a mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury car, and “other things of value.”

After an investigation began, Menendez disclosed that in 2020 his family accepted gold bars.

According to prosecutors, Menendez gave sensitive U.S. government information to Hana, who’s an Egyptian-American businessman, who “secretly aided the Government of Egypt.”

Menendez allegedly pressured an official at the Department of Agriculture with the goal of protecting a business monopoly granted to Hana by the Egyptian government.

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In return, Hana allegedly kicked back profits from the monopoly to Menendez, the indictment states.

FBI agents found “approximately $500,000 of cash stuffed into envelopes in closets,” and jammed into the senator’s jacket pockets, while executing a search warrant at Menendez’s residence, Williams said during the press conference.

Fox News’ Adam Sabes and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.

The Hungarian foreign minister says his country is hoping for a return of former President Donald Trump to the White House, as he says the relationship between the U.S. and Hungary has deteriorated due to the “lecturing” and interference in policy by the Biden administration.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told Fox News Digital that his country, which is led by a conservative government, had strong relations with the U.S. during the Trump administration, but that it has soured with the new Biden administration.

“We had the best ever political relationship with the United States during the term of President Trump, the best ever political relationship. And I think the reason for that was that President Trump has based this bilateral relationship on mutual respect, and he did not have the intention to judge, to lecture or educate us,” he said. “He concentrated on America to develop — America First — and he concentrated on the relationship of ours to develop as well, which can bring mutual benefit for both sides.”

He says that now, the Biden administration has sought to interfere with domestic issues, and highlighted a move in 2022 to end a bilateral tax agreement that prevented double taxation after Hungary reduced its corporate income tax. Last month, the U.S. also restricted visa-free travel for Hungarian passport holders, citing security concerns, and has also repeatedly criticized the government for its human rights record.

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“The Democrat administration is making continuous attempts to interfere in domestic issues in Hungary, they are judging us, they are lecturing us. The fact that they have terminated and broken the bilateral tax agreement between the two countries is a clear signal that they tried to put political pressure or economic pressure on us to change policies,” he said. “And this is unacceptable.”

He said there is no longer “mutual respect” that was there during the Trump era, and suggested that political factors are at play. 

“We understand that the U.S. establishment is very unhappy with the fact that a conservative, right-wing, patriotic Christian Democrat government has been in office in Hungary for such a long time, and it is not enough that we have been in office for a long time, but we have proven to be successful, and I think this is very uncomfortable for many liberal forces around the world. So we do hope that our relationship will come back to the level where it used to be under President Trump.”

As for specific disagreements, he highlighted the war in Ukraine. He estimates that there are 150,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine, some of whom have been conscripted into the army and deployed. 

“So we Hungarians are losing our nation mates, let’s put it this way, and we do not want to lose any more Hungarians in this war. We don’t want to see any more casualties in this war — not only Hungarians, none of them,” he said.

The U.S. has sought to end the conflict by backing Ukraine with funding and weapons to retake territory seized by the Russians, but Hungary sees delivering weapons as prolonging the conflict. President Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday that the U.S. is “staying with you” as he pushes Congress to provide additional funding for the war effort.

Szijjarto said that his country wants to see the U.S. bringing “peace into the neighborhood, and not weapons.” He said he believed that would be more likely under former President Donald Trump, who is running to retake the White House in 2024 and has said that he would launch peace talks to bring the conflict to an end if re-elected. 

TRUMP DESCRIBES HOW HE COULD SOLVE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT IN 24 HOURS

“We understand the position of President Trump, who would like to bring peace into our region. And we wish that an American administration brings peace into the region, because we have to be realistic that, without the United States, there will be no peace in the region,” Szijjarto said. “And as far as we listen to President Trump, this is really encouraging, and we cross fingers for him, for our own interests, because we have a track record already with him. We know how the relationship was under his term, and the fact that he would like to make peace . . . that serves our national interests as well.”

Szijjarto stressed that “we are not Americans, so it doesn’t matter what we think about domestic politics, and we would never interfere in domestic politics either.”

“But of course, we have an experience, and we have a hope. We have an experience about how we work together, and we have a hope for the president of the United States to make peace in our neighborhood. And President Trump is the one.”

The Ron DeSantis presidential campaign fired back at the hosts of “The View” on Friday after the panel compared the Florida governor to a comic book villain and mocked a clip of him explaining a controversial education reform in his state.

“Booo,” co-host Joy Behar said after a clip of DeSantis was played on Thursday’s show.  

“He’s lying,” co-host Sonny Hostin added before co-host Whoopi Goldberg compared him to a Batman villain.

“You know what he’s like? Do you remember The Penguin on Batman?” Goldberg said before mocking the governor’s voice. The panel then continued to slam the DeSantis campaign and argue that he’s not a threat to win the GOP nomination.

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The DeSantis campaign responded on Friday telling Fox News Digital the clip shows the panel is “out of touch.”

“Like Team Trump, the liberal, out-of-touch women of the View claim Ron DeSantis is not a threat, and then spend a lot of time attacking him, which means we are right over the target,” DeSantis spokesperson Carly Atchison said. 

‘THE VIEW’ DERAILS WHEN WHOOPI GOLDBERG SUDDENLY ASKS SURPRISED CO-HOST IF SHE’S PREGNANT: ‘NO, OH MY GOD!’

“Unfortunately for these very rational and thoughtful women, when Ron DeSantis is president, the American people will not be paying for their ninth COVID booster.”

The DeSantis campaign also posted a clip of the program on its “war room” account on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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“The highly thoughtful and intellectual women of the View lose their minds over Ron DeSantis, Part CXXVIII,” the caption read. 

A representative for The View did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

EXCLUSIVE — Republican senators are calling on President Biden to honor Respect Life Month in October with a display at the White House to match the one shown for LGBTQ+ Pride Month last June.

In a letter sent to the White House on Friday, Sens. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., challenged Biden to show “inclusivity” to pro-life Americans by displaying the Pro-Life Flag prominently at the White House and federal agency buildings during the month of October.

“Earlier this year, your administration displayed the Pride Flag at the White House for Pride Month,” the senators wrote. “We are asking you to also honor Respect Life Month and fly the Pro-Life Flag to send a powerful statement that our country celebrates Americans of all beliefs and is committed to protecting innocent and vulnerable life.”

“We know that the commitment to protecting and loving both unborn children and mothers is shared by Americans in every state and territory across our great nation,” the letter continues. “Flying the Pro-Life Flag during Respect Life Month would show the federal government stands alongside its citizens in upholding the unalienable truth that all people, including the unborn, have a right to life.”

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In October, the Catholic Church in the United States celebrates Respect Life Month and the first Sunday of October is designated Respect Life Sunday. The time is meant as a period of reflection on why every human wife is valuable and how to “build a culture that protects life from conception to natural death,” according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 

READ THE LETTER BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE

Earlier this year, the Biden administration received backlash over its Pride Month display at the White House for appearing to violate U.S. Flag Code.

POLICE DROP CHARGES AGAINST BRITISH WOMAN FOR SILENTLY PRAYING OUTSIDE AN ABORTION CLINIC

Biden celebrated the LGBT community in a social media post, that revealed a set of flags hanging from the White House that faced the South Lawn. The display includes a rainbow-colored Pride flag flanked by two American flags.

Social media users argued the display violated a section of the U.S. Flag Code that mandates the American flag be in the center of any display featuring multiple national flags or pennants.

PRO-LIFE GROUPS REMIND TRUMP THEY AREN’T A ‘CHEAP DATE’ AFTER RECENT ABORTION REMARKS

The Pro-Life Flag Republicans want Biden to display next month was created by the Pro-Life Flag Project as a unifying symbol for those who oppose abortion. 

“We believe that creating, promoting, and proudly flying a unified, freely-reproducible, international pro-life flag will wildly help the movement in its already-unified aim: ending abortion,” said spokesman James Chapman. 

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“Just as the rainbow flag has raised awareness for and significantly contributed to the success of the LGBTQ movement or as the Thin Blue Line flag has come to represent support for law enforcement, flying or displaying the pro-life flag will be a means by which everyday pro-life supporters can stand in solidarity with the larger pro-life movement,” he continued. 

“People around the world, regardless of their stance on abortion, will see the flag, know its meaning, and be compelled to think about the reality of abortion. Through positive symbolism within the design, the flag will also serve to positively brand the movement that has, in many mainstream currents, been so vilified and misrepresented.” 

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

A Democrat mega-donor who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to President Biden’s 2020 campaign and previously claimed “nobody cares about” the ongoing genocide of Uyghur Muslims in China is slated to host a fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

According to an invitation for the “intimate dinner and discussion,” Golden State Warriors part-owner Chamath Palihapitiya and his wife Nathalie, along with a number of other individuals, will host Ramaswamy at their home in the San Francisco Bay Area on Sep. 29. The event invitation was first reported by Puck News.

The cost to attend the event is a minimum $50,000 donation to Ramaswamy’s American Exceptionalism PAC.

RAMASWAMY UNVEILS PLAN TO ‘DECLARE ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE FROM CHINA’ IN UPCOMING POLICY SPEECH

Palihapitiya, a billionaire venture capitalist, made headlines last year when he claimed that “nobody cares” about the Chinese Communist Party-sponsored (CCP) genocide that has been recognized as such by several national governments.

“Let’s be honest: nobody cares about what’s happening to the Uyghurs, OK?” Palihapitiya said on a Jan. 2022 episode of his podcast. “You bring it up because you care, and I think that it’s nice that you care.”

“The rest of us don’t care,” Palihapitiya said about the ongoing genocide that has reportedly included forced sterilization, beatings and “mental torture and physical torture.” He said it was a “very hard, ugly truth.”

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“Of all the things I care about, yes, it is below my line,” he continued, repeating that the communist state-sponsored Uyghur genocide was “below” his caring “line.”

A campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Ramaswamy vehemently disagrees with Palihapitiya on the Uyghur genocide, but will still attend the super PAC fundraiser.

“He thinks what’s happening to the Uyghurs in China is an atrocity,” Ramaswamy campaign communications director Tricia McLaughlin said.

During a speech in Columbus, Ohio, Thursday where Ramaswamy laid out his plan to declare economic independence from China, he called the enslavement, imprisonment and forced sterilization of Uyghurs “one of the worst human rights atrocities committed by a major nation since the Third Reich of Germany.”

Noting that he is by far the biggest contributor to his own campaign, a McLaughlin added that Ramaswamy believes super PACs and dark money should not be part of the political system in America.

“Vivek thinks money corrupts politics. He’s felt very strongly on that since day one, and if he is the GOP nominee he would like to strike a deal with the Democratic nominee to make sure there’s no super PAC money in the race. But right now, super PACs are a part of the 2024 primary game, and we’ve got to play to win,” McLaughlin said.

According to FEC data, Palihapitiya has donated to the campaigns of several prominent Democrats, including Biden, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 campaign, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and the Senate Majority PAC (SMP).

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He gave $250,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in support of Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign in July of that year and another $5,600 directly to his campaign. He also donated $66,200 to the DNC.

That same year, Palihapitiya donated a total of $750,000 to the SMP, a political action committee affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. He also donated $5,800 directly to Schumer’s campaign in September 2021.

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

Migrant encounters at the southern border soared past the 200,000 mark once again in August hitting a new high for the calendar year and marking the highest August on record  — the latest sign that the raging crisis at the southern border is escalating despite a brief lull in the early summer.

There were 232,972 migrant encounters at the southern border in August, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced on Friday afternoon. That is an increase from the 204,087 encounters in August 2022, and an increase from the 183,494 encountered in July and the 144,570 encountered in June.

It is the highest number of monthly encounters seen this year, although it is not the highest number seen this fiscal year — with both November and December 2022 seeing higher numbers. Of those encounters in August, which is the highest August on record, 181,059 were encountered by Border Patrol illegally between ports of entry. 

DHS TO OFFER WORK PERMITS, DEPORTATION PROTECTION TO OVER 470,000 VENEZUELANS AMID NEW BORDER SURGE

“CBP remains vigilant in the face of ruthless smugglers and transnational criminal organizations who exploit vulnerable migrants, the same criminal organizations trafficking in lethal drugs that harm our communities,” acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement. “Our operational tempo along the border has increased in response to increased encounters, and we remain squarely focused on our broader security mission and enforcing U.S. immigration laws.”

“We are maximizing consequences against those without a legal basis to remain in the United States, including by processing more individuals into expedited removal than ever before. The men and women of CBP continue to work, day in and day out, to protect our nation, disrupting the entry of dangerous people and dangerous goods into the country while providing humanitarian care for vulnerable individuals,” he said.

The data brings the total migrant encounters for the fiscal year, excluding September, to over 2.2 million migrant encounters. CBP sources told Fox that, with September’s numbers so far, encounters for FY 2023 have already surpassed FY 22’s record 2.37 million encounters. Sources told Fox News on Friday that, with eight days left to go, there have been 2,388,350 encounters in FY 2023.

May and June saw a drop in border encounters after the ending of Title 42. The Biden administration attributed the drop to the implementation of a number of policies, including expanded “lawful” migrant pathways, a new asylum rule limiting who could claim asylum and the restoration of Title 8 enforcement.

But numbers have since shot up, engulfing the border in crisis again, and having knock-on effects in cities like New York City and Chicago — where officials and residents have called on the federal government to do more to help them deal with the influx.

There have been a daily average of around 9,000 encounters in recent days at the border. The surge was on display this week in Eagle Pass, Texas, where thousands of Venezuelan migrants surged into the area across the river, camping out under a nearby bridge — which forced a temporary shutdown of two bridges as agents struggled to cope.

The August numbers brought criticism from congressional Republicans, who criticized the administration for having tied the drop in encounters in June to its policies. House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green again accused DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of a “dereliction of duty.”

THOUSANDS OF VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS GATHER UNDER TEXAS BRIDGE AS BORDER NUMBERS SKYROCKET

“Secretary Mayorkas did not hesitate to spike the football in June, and given his record of misleading Congress and the American people, I fully expect he will try to pull a similar PR stunt with these numbers,” he said. “But don’t be fooled—cartel business is booming, and it will continue as long as Secretary Mayorkas insists on these radical open-borders policies. No amount of spin can change the fact that the American people are suffering the worst border crisis in our nation’s history. In fact, Secretary Mayorkas’ open-borders policies are actively undermining our homeland security and jeopardizing the safety of every American.” 

Multiple Border Patrol Sectors have been conducting street releases to relieve overcrowding, while leadership has set targets for “bookouts” as they struggle to deal with arrivals.

Republicans have hammered the administration for the crisis, arguing that Biden-era policies — including reduced interior enforcement, greater “catch-and-release” and the roll-back of Trump-era border policies — have created and exacerbated the crisis.

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The administration has said that it is dealing with a Hemisphere-wide challenge, which needs more funding from Congress as well as the passage of an immigration reform bill to fix what it says is a “broken” system.

This week the administration announced a number of measures, including increased capacity at CBP facilities, more personnel heading to the border and a redesignation of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela — which will grant protection from deportation and work permits to around 470,000 nationals.

FIRST ON FOX: GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom traded blows online over climate change.

Ramaswamy blasted Newsom amid their heated Twitter battle on climate change in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“Gavin is ignorant about science, but he’s savvy enough to know not to directly debate someone about it either,” Ramaswamy said.

RAMASWAMY UNVEILS PLAN TO ‘DECLARE ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE FROM CHINA’ IN UPCOMING POLICY SPEECH

Newsom and Ramaswamy’s digital sparring match sparked on Friday when the GOP presidential candidate put the Golden State governor on blast over his recent remarks at the United Nations (UN).

“My message to the UN: This climate crisis is a fossil fuel crisis,” Newsom tweeted on Thursday with a video of his remarks at the UN. “It’s not complicated.”

“My message to [Newsom]: The climate change agenda has NOTHING to do with the climate [and] everything to do with letting China catch up to the U.S.,” Ramaswamy responded. “It’s not complicated.”

“Drill. Frack. Use Coal. Embrace Nuclear,” he added.

Newsom fired back at Ramaswamy in another tweet, telling the GOP presidential candidate to keep “auditioning for the hall of fame for the most ignorant analysis of science.”

“Your coal agenda is up there with your 9/11 theories,” Newsom added.

Ramaswamy swung back, writing the “climate disaster-related death rate is down by 98% over the last century, due to fossil fuels.”

“[Eight times] as many people die of cold temperatures as warm ones, and the best way to stop all temperature-related deaths right now is broader access to fossil fuels,” Ramaswamy said. “China has 115 coal plants under construction now [and] another 250 planned while we’re shutting down the few we have left in America.”

“These are inconvenient truths for the likes of the [Newsom] who wax eloquent about ‘science’ without having the first clue about it,” the Republican presidential contender added. “Utterly shameful that this represents the state of political leadership in America today.”

Newsom’s team did not immediately provide comment.

Ramaswamy’s comments come ahead of the second GOP presidential debate where he will take the stage.

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The presidential candidate is a contender in a robust field of Republicans for the party’s nomination to take on President Biden for the White House.

However, he has to share the stage with several other fighters — including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley — as they look to take former President Trump’s lead in the primary.

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

A federal court struck down the Biden administration’s last-minute restrictions on an upcoming offshore oil and gas lease sale in a ruling late Thursday evening.

Judge James Cain of the Western District of Louisiana granted a preliminary injunction request from plaintiffs — the State of Louisiana, industry association American Petroleum Institute (API) and oil companies Chevron and Shell — to block the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) restrictions on Lease Sale 261. The lease sale spanning millions of acres across the Gulf of Mexico is slated for next week.

Cain ruled the federal government must proceed with the lease sale by Sept. 30 under its original conditions. As a result of a July settlement with environmental groups, BOEM removed about six million acres from the sale and imposed various restrictions on oil and gas vessels associated with the leases auctioned to protect the Rice’s whale species found in parts of the Gulf of Mexico.

“The court observes that plaintiffs have demonstrated substantial potential costs resulting from the challenged provisions,” Cain wrote in his decision. “While the government defendants largely focus on the acreage withdrawal and dynamics of the sale itself, many of plaintiffs’ alleged hardships arise from the vessel restrictions.” 

WHITE HOUSE REFUSES TO REVEAL HOW COSTLY POTENTIAL BILLION-DOLLAR CLIMATE PROGRAM COULD BE FOR TAXPAYERS

“Industry plaintiffs have shown a likelihood that these will burden their operations on current and planned leases,” the ruling continued. “The resulting costs would not be undone by the court’s entry of a permanent injunction and order of another sale.”

Cain also said the Biden administration’s actions appeared to be an attempt to “provide scientific justification to a political reassessment of offshore drilling.” And he said the administration’s process looked “more like a weaponization of the Endangered Species Act than the collaborative, reasoned approach prescribed by the applicable laws and regulations.”

In a statement following the ruling Thursday, API Senior Vice President and General Counsel Ryan Meyers said it was a positive step in ensuring energy security.

BIDEN ADMIN QUIETLY CONSULTED LEFT-WING ECO GROUPS ON PLAN TO BLOCK OFF MILLIONS OF ACRES: MONTANA AG

“We are pleased that the court has hit the brakes on the Biden Administration’s ill-conceived effort to restrict American development of reliable, lower-carbon energy in the Gulf of Mexico,” Meyers said in a statement. 

“Today’s decision will allow Lease Sale 261 to move forward as directed by Congress in the Inflation Reduction Act, removing the unjustified restrictions on vessel traffic imposed by the Department of the Interior and restoring the more than 6 million acres to the sale,” he added. “This decision is an important step toward greater certainty for American energy workers, a more robust Gulf Coast economy and a stronger future for U.S. energy security.”

In late August, API and its fellow plaintiffs filed the lawsuit against the Biden administration calling for the court to require the Biden administration to “fulfill its obligations to the American people.” According to industry, sales like Lease Sale 261, which is the final federal offshore lease sale scheduled, are vital to ensure long-term oil and gas production.

Overall, BOEM said — following its eco settlement in July — it would offer 12,395 blocks across approximately 67 million acres in multiple regions of the Gulf of Mexico, less than the 13,620 blocks across 73.4 million acres it originally planned to offer. The acreage stripped from the sale included potentially oil-rich tracts located in the middle of the lease area.

Offshore lease sales often span large swaths of federal waters, but earn bids on a fraction of blocks projected by companies to contain more resources and to have a higher return on investment. For example, BOEM auctioned off 73.3 million acres during Lease Sale 259 in March, but received bids worth $263.8 million for 313 tracts spanning 1.6 million acres.

BIDEN’S LATEST ECO REGS BLASTED BY SMALL BUSINESSES, MANUFACTURERS: ‘WILL DO TERRIBLE DAMAGE’

“The injunction is a necessary and welcome response from the court to an unnecessary decision by the Biden administration,” said Erik Milito, the president of the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA). “The removal of millions of highly prospective acres and the imposition of excessive restrictions stemmed from a voluntary agreement with activist groups that circumvented the law, ignored science, and bypassed public input.”

In addition to removing acreage from the sale, BOEM also imposed restrictions on oil and gas vessel traffic associated with the leases set to be auctioned during Lease Sale 261. Among the requirements, BOEM said specially-trained visual observers must be aboard all vessels traversing the area, all ships regardless of size must travel no quicker than 10 knots and vessels should only travel through the area in the daytime.

BOEM’s restrictions came in response to the administration’s settlement last month with a coalition of four environmental groups led by the left-wing Sierra Club.

In a federal stipulated stay agreement filed on July 21, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) agreed to a number of conditions requested by the groups which, in response, agreed to temporarily pause litigation in the related case. The case dates back nearly three years when, in October 2020, the environmental coalition sued the NMFS for failing to properly assess the oil industry impacts on endangered and threatened marine wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico. 

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The groups pursued the lawsuit after the NMFS coordinated a multiagency consultation studying the effects all federally regulated oil and gas activities would have on species like the Rice’s whale listed under the Endangered Species Act in the Gulf of Mexico over the next 50 years. The groups argued in the original complaint that the NMFS’ biological opinion resulting from its consultation was not based on the best science.

API and NOIA also argued BOEM’s action had contravened the congressional intent of the Inflation Reduction Act, which reinstated multiple lease sales, including Lease Sale 261, after the Biden administration axed them in May 2022. In the sale’s record of decision, it is mandated to be region-wide while its environmental analysis didn’t acknowledge risks it may pose to the Rice’s whale.

Federal prosecutors charged Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and his wife with violating corruption and bribery laws, according to an indictment unsealed in federal court Friday.

According to the indictment, Menendez, who chairs the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his wife Nadine Menendez are accused of engaging in a corrupt scheme alongside Fred Daibes, a New Jersey real estate developer; Wael Hana, who runs a halal meat certification business in the state; and businessman Jose Uribe.

The bombshell indictment included sprawling allegations against the senior Democratic senator involving a scheme to aid the Egyptian government, gold bars, money stuffed in envelopes and illicit halal certifications.

In a lengthy statement following the indictment, Menendez denied any wrongdoing and said forces “behind the scenes” are working to silence him and dig his “political grave.” He added his behavior laid out in the indictment was all well within the realm of his office’s authority.

“Since this investigation was leaked nearly a year ago there has been an active smear campaign of anonymous sources and innuendoes to create an air of impropriety where none exists,” he said.

FEDS PROBING IF DEM SEN MENENDEZ OR WIFE ACCEPTED GOLD BARS WORTH HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS FROM FELON: REPORT

1. Breached official duty in way that ‘benefited the Government of Egypt’

The federal indictment alleges that Menendez used his power and influence serving in the U.S. Senate to enter into the scheme which ultimately benefited the Egyptian government. It stated that the lawmaker and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes “to seek to protect and enrich” Daibes, Hana and Uribe.

The bribes, the indictment continued, included cash, gold bars, home mortgage payments, compensation for no-show jobs, a luxury vehicle and “other things of value.”

DOJ WEIGHING POTENTIAL CHARGES AGAINST BOB MENENDEZ FOLLOWING CRIMINAL PROBE INTO GIFTS TO HIS WIFE: REPORT

“Among other actions, Menendez provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt,” the indictment stated. 

“Menendez also improperly advised and pressured an official at the United States Department of Agriculture for the purpose of protecting a business monopoly granted to Hana by Egypt and used in part to fund the bribes being paid to Menendez through Nadine Menendez,” it continued. 

The scheme arose in 2018 after Nadine Menendez, then Arslanian, began dating Menendez and subsequently introduced him to Egyptian intelligence and military officials “for the purpose of establishing and solidifying a corrupt agreement” in which Hana, along with Daibes and Uribe, provided bribes to the Menendez couple.

In exchange, Menendez allegedly breached his official duty to benefit Egypt’s government with respect to foreign military sales and foreign military financing.

In his role as the top Democratic member on the Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez was given substantial access to and possessed substantial influence over foreign military sales and foreign military financing to Egypt, among the top recipients of U.S. foreign aid.

DEMOCRAT SEN. BOB MENENDEZ SETS UP DEFENSE FUND AMID CRIMINAL PROBE INTO GIFTS TO HIS WIFE: REPORT

2. Investigators find cash stuffed in envelopes and Menendez’s jackets

The indictment further revealed that federal agents conducted a search of Menendez’s home last year, when they discovered hidden cash and gold bars.

In June 2022, agents raided Menendez’s residence and a safe deposit box belonging to Nadine Menendez. They found more than $480,000 in cash, which was largely stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets and a safe. They also discovered more than $70,000 in the senator’s wife’s safe deposit box.

Some of the envelopes containing cash contained DNA belonging to Daibes or his driver.

Cash was also located in jackets with Menendez’s name stitched on them. One jacket had Menendez’s name stitched next to the insignia for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, of which he is a member.

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“During the same court-authorized search of the home, agents also found home furnishings provided by Hana and Daibes, the luxury vehicle paid for by Uribe parked in the garage, as well as over one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of gold bars in the home, which were provided by either Hana or Daibes,” the indictment said. 

3. Google search for ‘kilo of gold price’

Meanwhile, amid the scheme, Menendez, according to the indictment, searched on Google for the “kilo of gold price.” The search was an apparent attempt to ascertain how much the gold bars investigators found on his property are worth, according to the indictment. 

Menendez performed the Google search on Jan. 29, 2022, shortly after his wife allegedly exchanged calls with Daibes’ driver and later texted him, “Thank you. Christmas in January.”

DEM SENATOR CHARGED WITH BRIBERY ONCE CLAIMED TRUMP COULD BE ‘COMPROMISED’ BY RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT

Menendez’s search also came shortly after he allegedly spoke on the phone with an Egyptian government official in what was his first contact with that individual.

Photographs taken by agents who raided Menendez’s home showed gold bars emblazoned with the logo of the Swiss Bank Corporation and markings indicating they weigh one kilogram.

4. Menendez seeks to disrupt federal criminal prosecutions

Menendez attempted to influence a pending federal prosecution of Daibes, who is a New Jersey developer and former bank chairman, from around late 2020 until early 2022, according to the indictment. 

Daibes faced federal bank fraud charges that could have landed him up to a decade in prison for lying about a $1.8 million loan from Mariner’s Bank, where he served as chairman.

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According to the indictment, Menendez recommended now-U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger for the position after believing he would be sympathetic to Daibes. Sellinger, however, recused himself. 

During the process, Menendez and his wife allegedly received cash, gold bars and furniture for his attempts to help Daibes. 

Last year, New Jersey’s U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed to let Daibes plead guilty to one count and serve probation. They said Daibes had repaid the loan.

5. Menendez allegedly receives luxury car for disrupting criminal case

Two defendants within the indictment, Hana and Uribe, allegedly helped purchase a Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible valued at over $60,000 for Menendez and his wife.

Menendez had agreed to interfere in a New Jersey state criminal prosecution dealing with an associate of Uribe, who faced insurance fraud charges relating to a trucking company and an employee of Uribe, according to the indictment.  

DEMOCRAT IN VA RACE SAYS ‘UNQUALIFIED’ WHITES HAVE HIGH-PAYING JOBS THAT BLACK PEOPLE NEED ‘A PHD’ TO GET

Around this time, Menendez’s wife had a car accident that left her without a vehicle. She texted Hana about her lack of a car. They agreed that Menendez would then intercede in exchange for a car, according to the indictment.  

Menendez allegedly contacted a senior state prosecutor in New Jersey’s attorney general’s office, attempting “through advice and pressure” to cause the individual to resolve the issues favorably for Uribe’s associates. 

Uribe later allegedly met Menendez’s wife in a restaurant parking lot and supplied her with $15,000 in cash. The following day, Menendez’s wife made a $15,000 down payment on the Mercedes with a combination of cash, a credit card and checks. 

“Congratulations mon amour de la vie, we are the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes,” Menendez’s wife allegedly texted him after she acquired the vehicle. 

His wife later texted him a picture of the new car, the indictment said. 

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New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menedez was indicted on international corruption charges Friday, years after accusing former President Trump of being “compromised” by the Russian government. 

“Over the last two years, many of us have grappled with a very difficult question about our President,” Menendez said on the Senate floor in February 2019. “It’s a question that never before could we even imagine thinking about an American president, let alone saying aloud on the floor of the Senate.

“I’m talking about the entirely legitimate question of whether Donald Trump could be compromised by the Russian government.”

Menendez continued, “It’s more than a legitimate question — it’s the natural question that comes to mind every time we learn more about the links between President Trump, his associates, and the Russian government.”

FEDS PROBING IF DEM SEN MENENDEZ OR WIFE ACCEPTED GOLD BARS WORTH HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS FROM FELON: REPORT

Menendez made a lengthy speech outlining allegations against Trump and said that the possibility of corruption “keeps me up at night.”

On Friday, Menendez was federally indicted on bribery offenses that alleged the senator and his wife took bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car for a range of corrupt acts, including having the Democrat use his influence over foreign affairs to benefit the authoritarian government of Egypt.

DEMOCRAT SEN. BOB MENENDEZ SETS UP DEFENSE FUND AMID CRIMINAL PROBE INTO GIFTS TO HIS WIFE: REPORT

A search of the couple’s home turned up $100,000 in gold bars and $480,000 in hidden cash, said prosecutors, who announced the charges against the 69-year-old Democrat nearly six years after an earlier criminal case against him ended with a deadlocked jury.

“For years, forces behind the scenes have repeatedly attempted to silence my voice and dig my political grave,” Menendez said in a press release Friday. “Since this investigation was leaked nearly a year ago, there has been an active smear campaign of anonymous sources and innuendos to create an air of impropriety where none exists.”

“To my supporters, friends and the community at large, I ask that you recall the other times the prosecutors got it wrong and that you reserve judgement. I am confident that this matter will be successfully resolved once all of the facts are presented and my fellow New Jerseyans will see this for what it is.”

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In April, Menendez established a legal defense fund to help pay for tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees relating to the federal criminal probe.

The Associated Press and Fox News Digital’s Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley took a swipe at former President Donald Trump Thursday during a campaign event in New Hampshire, where she said he was “the right president at the right time,” but that times have changed.

Speaking to an audience at the Portsmouth Rotary Club Meeting, Haley criticized Trump as being “weak in the knees,” and “thin-skinned and easily distracted,” while also offering praise about his time in the White House.

When asked how the 45th president would be remembered 100 years from now, Haley began with a positive outlook.

“He was the right president at the right time,” Haley said. “He broke things that needed to be broken. He listened and brought in a group of people who felt unheard. He was strong on foreign policy and getting America respected in the world.”

She then said of the current Republican primary front-runner: “He was thin-skinned and easily distracted. He didn’t do anything on fiscal policy and really spent a lot of money, and we are all paying the price for it. He did a better job than Biden on the border. He used to be good on foreign policy and now he has started to walk it back and get weak in the knees when it comes to Ukraine.”

2024 WATCH: NIKKI HALEY SAYS HER MOMENTUM IN GOP PRESIDENTIAL RACE COMES DOWN TO THIS

During an interview after the event, Haley echoed her remarks: “I agree with a lot of his policies, but I don’t think he is the right president to go forward. He was strong when it came to foreign policy, but we’ve seen him get weak on Ukraine.”

Haley has emerged as a strong vocal supporter of Ukraine military aid as her 2024 contenders, including Trump, and some Republicans in Congress have wavered.

Addressing Trump later at her New Hampshire event, Haley, also a former U.N. Ambassador, said that while she served in the Trump administration there were times when she and the former president disagreed on issues.

“He appreciated that I was not a ‘yes man,’” she shared, noting she “saved him” a few times.

Haley also addressed a question about her trailing Trump in national polls, to which she highlighted the importance of New Hampshire in the primary process.

HALEY TEAMS UP WITH MOMS FOR LIBERTY AS THE GROUP TAKES CENTER STAGE IN THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACE

She said Iowa, New Hampshire and her home state of South Carolina decide early momentum in the primary race and suggested this momentum was enough to ultimately determine the nominee.

Haley said there could be as many as eight Republicans on the ballot in Iowa, four or five in New Hampshire then just two or three in South Carolina.

The former South Carolina governor urged voters to do their part to help her stay in the race through New Hampshire, and she vowed to carry the fight to win in South Carolina.

Trump has vowed he would end the war between Ukraine and Russia if elected through stern negotiations.

He currently leads the GOP primary field in national polls by as much as 50% or more. He saw his support slip some with his notable absence from the first debate, and Haley suggested he would see another drop if he does not participate in next week’s Republican debate. 

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Trump is trailed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is in second place, while Haley has climbed to third in some polls.

The second Republican National Committee debate will be hosted by FOX Business on Wednesday, September 27.

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A group of Republican Wisconsin lawmakers on Thursday proposed impeaching the battleground state’s top elections official as Democrats wage a legal battle to keep the nonpartisan administrator in office.

Democrats say the GOP-controlled state Senate acted illegitimately when it voted along party lines last week to oust Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe. In a lawsuit challenging the vote, Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul accused Republicans of attacking the state’s elections.

The resolution introduced Thursday by five Assembly Republicans makes Wolfe the second state official GOP lawmakers have threatened with impeachment this month. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, Wisconsin’s top Republican, created a panel last week to investigate the criteria for impeaching liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz, whose installment in August tipped the Wisconsin Supreme Court to liberal control for the first time in over a decade.

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Wolfe has been targeted by conspiracy theorists who falsely claim she was part of a plot to rig the 2020 election in favor of President Joe Biden. The lawmakers proposing her impeachment have played a role in advancing those claims and some pushed to decertify the results of the 2020 election.

“A gaggle of well-known election deniers is once again attacking Meagan Wolfe, a nonpartisan election administrator who has served Wisconsin and our democracy with the utmost respect and dignity,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard said in a statement.

The 23-page impeachment resolution reiterates conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and faults Wolfe for election administration decisions that were made by elections commissioners. As the elections commission’s nonpartisan administrator, Wolfe has little decision-making power and instead implements decisions made by the three Democrats and three Republicans on the bipartisan commission.

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“No matter how many times some politicians misrepresent my actions and how this agency works, it does not make what they’re saying true,” Wolfe said in a statement. “It’s irresponsible for this group of politicians to willfully distort the truth when they’ve been provided the facts for years.”

Republican Rep. Janel Brandtjen, one of the resolution’s authors, lost her position as chair of the Assembly elections committee and was even kicked out of a GOP caucus last year after Republicans said they lost trust in her for promoting election lies. Brandtjen has frequently butted heads with Vos and other GOP leaders, and she endorsed Vos’ Republican primary opponent in the 2022 midterm.

The resolution to impeach Wolfe would need approval from Vos to move forward. He did not respond to an email or text message seeking comment Thursday. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu also did not respond to emails seeking comment.

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Numerous reviews have found that the 2020 election in Wisconsin was fair and the results were accurate. Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump in 2020 by nearly 21,000 votes in Wisconsin, an outcome that has withstood two partial recounts, a nonpartisan audit, a conservative law firm’s review, and multiple state and federal lawsuits.

The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday announced it will be granting deportation protections and work permits to thousands of Afghan nationals who arrived in the last year – including those who crossed illegally at the southern border – a day after it made a similar announcement for nationals from Venezuela.

DHS announced it will be both extending and redesignating Afghanistan for Temporary Protected Status – which shields nationals already in the country from deportation and allows them to apply for work permits due to conditions in their home country. 

The designation is typically based on conditions in the designated country and is based on three grounds: armed ongoing conflict, environmental disasters or “extraordinary and temporary conditions.” Officials cited conditions including armed conflict in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has retaken control.

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“Today’s announcement to extend and redesignate TPS for Afghanistan allows us to continue to offer safety and protection to Afghan nationals who are unable to return to their country,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. “DHS will continue to support Afghan nationals through this temporary form of humanitarian relief.”

Extending TPS means that the estimated 3,100 already protected by prior designations are granted additional benefits until May 2025. The redesignation opens up to new applicants who arrived between March 2022 and Wednesday. DHS estimates it will open the program up to 14,600 additional Afghans. 

Afghans who were paroled into the United States as part of the evacuation from Afghanistan in 2021 can technically apply for TPS, but DHS said it encourages them to seek “more durable immigration pathways” for which they may be eligible than the more limited TPS.

The move comes a day after a broader re-designation of Venezuela for TPS on Wednesday, which affects a much larger population of around 472,000 Venezuelans with a cut-off date of July 31 for eligibility.

The re-designation of Venezuela had been called for by officials in New York and elsewhere, who have been overwhelmed with a surge of migrants who have traveled to those jurisdictions and are unable to work. It came hours after thousands of Venezuelans surged into Eagle Pass, Texas — although the designation will not directly affect them.

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The southern has been seeing rapidly increasing numbers of migrants arriving at the southern border from countries across the globe – with immigration activists pushing for additional TPS designations and re-designations to prevent deportations and allow them to work.

“We encourage the Biden administration to continue granting TPS designations to vulnerable populations amid unprecedented and ongoing global displacement,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said in a statement. “As we’ve witnessed with Venezuelans, Ukrainians and other groups, TPS is a valuable tool to help stabilize those hoping to rebuild their lives in the U.S. and expand protection for people unable to return to their home countries.”

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But conservatives say the TPS authority, which was authorized by Congress in the 1990s, has been abused and has become distorted from its initial intent and is now anything but temporary.

“I can’t remember a time when a Democratic administration terminated a TPS determination,” Lora Ries, Director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital on Thursday. “The Trump administration terminated some TPS programs and the Left sued to keep them going. The Biden Administration is now up to TPS for 16 countries, many of which also have their own mass parole program.”

“And all receive what they really want – work authorization,” she said. “It’s past time for Congress to take back its authority to determine who is authorized to work & narrow parole and TPS statutory text to align with Congress’ original intent.

EXCLUSIVE — New documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests show that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) argued that the agency has authority in regulating “misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation” despite the disbandment of the agency’s highly criticized Disinformation Governance Board.

In heavily redacted memos obtained by Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF) and reviewed exclusively by Fox New Digital, the agency appeared to circulate ahead of the launch of the disinformation board justification that DHS has regulatory or statutory authority in the “the MDM Space” – short for “misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.

But because DHS withheld all the substance in these memos that AFPF requested via FOIA and then by a lawsuit, the group says DHS is effectively relying on secret authorities for its work in the “MDM Space.”

“If DHS believes it has the authority to police people’s online speech, it should be open with the public about what those authorities are,” AFPF Director of Investigations Kevin Schmidt told Fox News Digital.

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“The idea that any agency with such vast political power believes it has the authority to determine what ideas count as good or true upsets the delicate balance of power established by our founding fathers,” he said.

One memo is partially withheld under FOIA Exemption 7(E), which protects “techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations.”

The use of the exemption, AFPF says, is troubling because it suggests DHS is either overstating its authority in the “MDM Space” or it’s abusing FOIA exemptions to avoid transparency.

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“Our Constitution was designed to protect people’s liberties from overreaching authorities. But the documents we’ve uncovered suggest that DHS believes it has overreaching authorities to regulate speech under the guise of countering misinformation even without a Disinformation Governance Board,” Schmidt said.

According to the documents obtained by AFPF, the Disinformation Governance Board also began working on misinformation related to “irregular migration” and “Ukraine” before it was disbanded.

One memo produced from the FOIA request is dated Feb. 22, 2022, and titled “Ukraine MDM Playbook,” but the content of that memo is redacted in the document produced to AFPF.

Ken Cuccinelli, former deputy secretary of Homeland Security during the Trump administration, told Fox News Digital in a statement that “DHS does not have censorship authority.”

“Making up a new government acronym – ‘MDM’ – does not change that legal fact,” he said.

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Former DHS Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Alexei Woltornist said “no amount of regulatory authority can undermine Constitutional rights.”

“What is most concerning about this disclosure from DHS is they are using sophisticated law enforcement techniques against law-abiding citizens just for saying things the government does not like.”

In August 2022, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas terminated plans for the “disinformation board” after mounting backlash.

But in November 2022, leaked documents published by The Intercept revealed that while DHS disbanded the disinformation board, the agency was still working to combat disinformation on a range of topics, including COVID-19, vaccines, racial issues, the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Ukraine aid.

According to a draft copy of its Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, which is DHS’ capstone strategy document, the agency intends to target disinformation on topics such as “the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine,” The Intercept reported.

A lawsuit brought by two Republican attorneys general that alleges the Biden administration colluded with social media companies to censor user speech has so far resulted in a court order temporarily banning such activities by the government, ruling that such activities likely violated the First Amendment.

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The Justice Department appealed the court order to the Supreme Court, arguing that the “unprecedented injunction installing the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana as the superintendent of the Executive Branch’s communications with and about social-media platforms – including senior White House officials’ speech addressing some of the most salient public issues of the day.”

The Supreme Court is expected to weigh in as early as Friday.

Last week, House Republicans introduced legislation that would ban any federal dollars from helping to form any other such disinformation governance board in the future.

“Partisan government officials running a ‘disinformation board’ sounds ridiculous to most people, yet the Biden Administration tried to control the speech of American citizens,” said bill co-author Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, in a statement.

The Department of Homeland Security did not return a request for comment by time of publication.