NationalWatch

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday dismissed rumors that he would drop out of the 2024 presidential race if he were to lose to former President Donald Trump at the Iowa caucuses on January 15. 

“That’s a lie. Yeah, that’s a total lie,” DeSantis told an audience member during a campaign stop in a suburb of Iowa Sunday morning. “When they’re doing that they are trying to trick you guys by doing this. They’re going to do some anonymous source. They do this to me all the time. They say, ‘anonymous sources have said this, and then they run with it.” 

Earlier in his talk, DeSantis assured an audience member that he would stay in the race past the Iowa caucuses.

“Make no mistake, we’ve got a mission. We’ve got to complete a mission. It’s a long process. It’s an arduous process,” DeSantis said. “I think Iowa is going to be a great place for us to start the process. But we certainly have a lot of road after that. And we’re girded for the long battle.” 

STEFANIK DECLINES TO COMMIT TO CERTIFYING 2024 ELECTION RESULTS: ONLY ‘IF THEY ARE CONSTITUTIONAL’

Speaking with Fox News’ Bill Melugin on the sidelines, DeSantis reiterated his assertion that rumors of a pending dropout were a lie. 

“That report is categorically false,” DeSantis said. 

Being the first state to cast votes for presidential nominees, Iowa’s caucuses set the stage for the entire primary season. Winning or performing strongly in Iowa can generate crucial momentum for candidates, influencing voter perceptions of their viability.

DeSantis is in an increasingly testy contest with former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley to emerge in Iowa as the preferred alternative to Trump for the party’s 2024 nomination.

DeSantis has said he expects to win Iowa despite trailing far behind Trump in polls. He portrays Haley, who was Trump’s U.N. ambassador, as a puppet of wealthy donors and someone who has flip-flopped on key issues.

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DeSantis would upend the race if he were to beat Trump in the caucuses. Haley’s allies believe they could hobble DeSantis if she finishes ahead of him. The thinking is that a second-place finish would give her a boost before New Hampshire’s Jan. 23 primary and a chance to take on Trump directly in South Carolina a month later.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., on Sunday declined to commit to certifying the 2024 election results. 

During an in-studio appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” host Kristen Welker asked Stefanik if she would vote to certify the 2024 results “no matter what they show.” 

“Well, I voted not to certify the state of Pennsylvania because, as we saw in Pennsylvania and other states across the country, that there was unconstitutional acts circumventing the state legislature and unilaterally changing election law,” Stefanik said, referencing how she responded to the 2020 election. 

“What about 2024?” Welker pressed. 

“We will see if this is a legal and valid election,” Stefanik responded, referencing efforts in Colorado and Maine to keep Trump off the 2024 ballot over the Jan. 6 riot. “What we’re seeing so far is that Democrats are so desperate, they’re trying to remove President Trump from the ballot. That is a suppression of the American people. And the Supreme Court is taking that case up in February. That should be a 9 to 0 to allow President Trump to appear on the ballot, because that’s the American people’s decision to make this November.” 

MORAL ‘FAILURES’ OF ACADEMIC LEADERS WOULDN’T HAVE SEEN ACCOUNTABILITY IF NOT FOR CONGRESS: STEFANIK

Interjecting, Welker said, “To be very clear, I don’t hear you committed to certifying the election results – will you only commit to certify the results if former President Trump wins?”

“No. It means if they are constitutional,” Stefanik said. “What we saw in 2020 was unconstitutional circumventing of the Constitution, not going through state legislatures when it comes to changing election law. And we’re seeing this in my home state of New York, Kristen, we are seeing Democrats try to steal the election and illegally gerrymander congressional districts that we fairly won and are fair line. So I see this at a very local level, as well as the unconstitutional overreach we saw at the national level in 2020.” 

Attempting to shift topics, Welker tried to conclude that Trump’s legal teams took their election concerns to court more than 60 times and lost, two independent firms hired to investigate election fraud allegations “came up short,” and the federal agency responsible for overseeing election security, CISA, said “the 2020 election was the most secure in America history.”  

“Let me make a final point,” Stefanik added, as the NBC host sought to change topics.

“I think it’s important because the American people understand that it was not a fair election,” Stefanik said. “We had unconstitutional overreach. And that was why I objected to certain states when it came to my constitutional responsibility. As a member of Congress, I’m going to always stand up for the Constitution and make sure that we have strong election integrity. And the real threat to democracy is Joe Biden and Democrats who are attempting to remove President Trump from the ballot because Joe Biden knows he can’t win at the ballot box.” 

Stefanik had also pushed back on Welker’s claim of “no coordination” with Joe Biden and the Department of Justice regarding the prosecutions against Trump. 

“We just saw Hunter Biden defy a congressional subpoena and the White House admitting it was in coordination with Joe Biden the morning of. That is coordination. And I believe that Joe Biden will be found to be the most corrupt president in our nation’s history,” she said. 

Welker had earlier pressed Stefanik, “Do you still think it was a tragic day? Do you think that the people who stormed the Capitol should be held responsible to the full extent of it?”

“I have concerns about the treatment of January 6th hostages. I have concerns. We have a role in Congress of oversight over our treatment of prisoners,” Stefanik said. “And I believe that we’re seeing the weaponization of the federal government against not just President Trump, but we’re seeing it against conservatives. We’re seeing it against Catholics. And that’s one of the reasons why I’m so proud to serve on the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Government, because the American people want answers, they want transparency, and they understand that.”

HARVARD PRESIDENT CLAUDINE GAY RESIGNS AMID ANTISEMITISM, PLAGIARISM CONTROVERSIES

“As you look across this country, there seems to be two sets of rules. If your last name is Clinton or it’s Biden, you get to live by a different set of rules than if you’re an everyday, patriotic American,” she said. “If you go back and play the full speech I gave on the House floor, I condemn the violence, just like I condemn the violence of the BLM riots,” Stefanik continued, after ripping NBC and “the biased media” for only playing a small except of her House floor speech made in January 2021 after the Capitol riot. 

“But I also, importantly, stood for election integrity and security of our elections, which, if we don’t have that, we do not have a democracy,” she said. “So the real threat to our democracy is these baseless witch hunt investigations and lawsuits against President Trump, whether it’s Tish James or whether we see in the D.C. Circuit Court. And that is undemocratic, and it’s shredding our Constitution. And you know who agrees with me, Kristen? The American people. That’s why President Trump is winning in poll after poll against Joe Biden.” 

Her remarks echoed former President Trump’s speech in Iowa calling for President Biden to release the “J6 hostages,” adding that those prisoners “suffered enough.” 

“You know what they oughta do, they oughta release the J6th hostages. I call them hostages. Some people call them prisoners. I call them hostages,” Trump said on Saturday, garnering applause. “Release the J6 hostages, Joe. Release ‘em, Joe. You can do it real easy, Joe.” 

In a speech ahead of the third anniversary of the Capitol riot, Biden championed how, collectively, Jan. 6 defendants have been sentenced to more than 840 years in prison. 

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The president also said more than 1,200 people have been charged in connection to the “assault on the Capitol,” and nearly 900 of them have been convicted or pleaded guilty.

“And what has Trump done? Instead of calling them ‘criminals,’ he’s called these… insurrectionists ‘patriots,’” Biden said on Friday from Pennsylvania. “They’re ‘patriots.’ And he promised to pardon them if he returns to office.” 

The FBI on Saturday said it arrested three people for their alleged participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol. 

The arrest, which the bureau said was at a ranch in Groveland, Florida in Lake County, came on the third anniversary of the Capitol riots. 

The bureau identified the subjects as Jonathan Daniel Pollock, Olivia Michele Pollock, and Joseph Daniel Hutchinson III. 

The three defendants are scheduled to appear in Federal Court in Ocala, Florida on Monday, the bureau said. No further details on their capture were released. 

STEFANIK DECLINES TO COMMIT TO CERTIFYING 2024 ELECTION RESULTS: ONLY ‘IF THEY ARE CONSTITUTIONAL’

More than 1,230 people have been charged with federal crimes connected to the violence, including assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy. Around 730 people have pleaded guilty to charges, while another roughly 170 have been convicted of at least one charge at a trial decided by a judge or a jury. 

Washington’s federal courthouse remains flooded with trials, guilty plea hearings, and sentencings stemming from what has become the largest criminal investigation in American history. 

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Authorities, meanwhile, are still trying to identify upwards of 80 people wanted for acts of violence at the Capitol and to find out who placed pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democratic national committees’ offices the day before the Capitol attack. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday argued that President Biden has been using the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol as the focus of his 2024 presidential campaign to distract Americans from his administration’s poor record that has “weakened America at home and abroad.”

Pence appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” from Israel, where he was visiting families of those taken hostage by Hamas terrorists in the Oct. 7 attack, and stated that he believed Jan. 6 would not decide the upcoming election.

“I actually don’t think the election’s going to be decided on a tragic day three years ago,” Pence said. “I think it’s going to be decided on the failed policies of the Biden administration that have emboldened the enemies of freedom around the world, that launched the worst inflation, that created the worst crisis on our border in American history.”

“I understand why President Biden wants to focus his campaign on three years ago, the record of this administration has weakened America at home and abroad,” the former vice president said.

BIDEN MARKS THREE YEARS SINCE JAN. 6 BLASTING TRUMP, SAYING HE IS ‘TRYING TO STEAL HISTORY’

Biden’s campaign has doubled down on Jan. 6-related attacks against former President Trump following the poor performance of the White House’s “Bidenomics” messaging. On Friday, Biden attacked his predecessor during a speech in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, saying Trump is “trying to steal history the same way he tried to steal the election.”

Pence also criticized attempts to remove Trump from presidential ballots, as happened in Colorado and Maine, arguing that doing so would be “antithetical” to democracy

“I think these efforts to take the decision away from the American people are really antithetical to the very democracy that President Biden and many Democrats talk about wanting to defend,” he said.

TRUMP FIRES BACK AT JAN.6 CRITICISM, SAYS BIDEN IS A ‘TRUE THREAT TO DEMOCRACY’

Pence also addressed the hospitalization of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, which was kept under wraps for nearly a week.

“To think that at a time when we have allies at war in Eastern Europe and here in Israel, that the leader of America’s military at the Pentagon would be out of commission for a number of days and the president didn’t know about it is a dereliction of duty.” 

Austin was in an intensive care unit for days following elective surgery but is now recovering and resumed full duties Friday night, according to reports. It is still unclear why Austin was hospitalized in the first place, what the elective procedure was or when it occurred.

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“The handling of this by the secretary of defense is totally unacceptable,” Pence said. “I believe the American people have the right to know about his medical condition, about the reasons for it, and has a right to know who was informed of his incapacity.”

Former President Trump marked the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by demanding the release of all his supporters who have been convicted or detained for crimes relating to the incident.

Trump made the comments during a campaign stop in Clinton, Iowa, on Saturday, calling his jailed supporters “hostages.” More than 1,200 people have been charged with participating in the riot, of whom over 900 have pleaded guilty or been convicted.

“They’ve suffered enough,” Trump told the Iowa crowd. “I call them hostages. Some people call them prisoners.”

He went on to add, “I got indicted because I challenged the crooked election.”

BIDEN MOCKED FOR APPEARING CONFUSED AFTER ANTI-TRUMP SPEECH: ‘LOST AGAIN’

Trump is campaigning in Iowa just days ahead of the state’s Jan. 15 primary. Trump has maintained a commanding lead over his closest rivals, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

PROUD BOY WHO FLED PROSECUTION, FAKED DRUG OVERDOSE AFTER J6 RIOT GETS 10 YEARS

Trump will continue his campaigning blitz this week with a pair of Iowa faith events on Monday. Trump will be joined by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and former Diamond State Gov. Mike Huckabee at events in the afternoon and evening.

Trump’s Saturday comments came as political pundits across the spectrum marked the third anniversary of the Capitol riot. MSBNC host Jonathan Capehart raised eyebrows on his Saturday show when he was reduced to tears while interviewing a police officer who served at the Capitol that day.

FBI CONTINUES TO SEARCH FOR JAN 6 PIPE BOMB SUSPECT 3 YEARS AFTER CAPITOL RIOT, OFFERS $500K REWARD

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The FBI continues to investigate and prosecute suspects placed inside the Capitol by security and social media footage.

A Capitol Police officer who was on duty during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot announced on Friday that he is running for Congress in Maryland. 

“On January 6th, I defended our democracy from insurrectionists as a Capitol Police Officer,” Dunn wrote on X Friday, a day before the three-year anniversary of the incident. “After, President Biden honored me with the Presidential Citizens Medal. Today, I’m running for Congress to stop Trump’s MAGA extremists & ensure it never happens again.” 

Dunn, 40, said he stepped down from his police job several weeks ago to run for Congress, after 15 years as a Capitol police officer. 

He’s joining a crowded Democratic primary for Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District, a heavily Democratic jurisdiction that stretches between Baltimore and the nation’s capital. Current Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., announced in October that he would not seek reelection.

FBI CONTINUES TO SEARCH FOR JAN 6 PIPE BOMB SUSPECT 3 YEARS AFTER US CAPITOL RIOT, OFFERS $500K REWARD

In his campaign announcement video, also shared on X, Dunn is seen dressed in a button-down shirt and talking to the camera while walking down what looks like a Capitol hallway. 

Actors posing as rioters cause destruction, as the date “Jan. 6th” flashes across the scene.

“On this day,” Dunn says, “My role was as a Capitol police officer. I’m Harry Dunn. And that meant putting aside who I am – a father, a Marylander, a Democrat – because I swore an oath to protect our Constitution, to protect our democracy. It’s what allowed me to protect some members of Congress who I knew were bigots who helped fan the flames that started all of this.”

“I put country above self,” Dunn says.  

“The problem is, a lot of them didn’t,” he continues, walking through the dramatic reenactment of rioters waving flags through the halls and tearing down picture frames as congressional staffers flee. “Some of the same people who stood behind us when we protected them, went back on the floor of Congress and stood behind Trump. They voted to acquit him. And worst of all, they denied the violence and trauma that led to the death of some of my fellow officers. I couldn’t stand by and watch.”  

The video transitions to actual footage of Dunn testifying before the Jan. 6 committee, speaking to reporters at the Capitol and appearing on network TV shows, including “The View.” 

“I had another role to play. I used my voice to speak out, to get into good trouble,” he says, as footage plays of President Biden awarding Dunn the Presidential Citizens Medal last year and of Dunn testifying before the Jan. 6 committee. A fictional TV screen is then smashed as the ad transitions back to the Capitol riot reenactment scene. “And a few weeks ago, I left the force after more than 15 years of service so that today I can announce I’m running for Congress.” 

FEDERAL COURT RULES EVEN PASSIVE JAN. 6 PROTESTORS WHO WERE INSIDE CAPITOL CAN BE CONVICTED

“We can’t ever let this happen again. And you’ve heard it from Trump himself. He is hellbent on finishing what he started this day. I’m stepping into a new role today, but I can’t do it alone. I believe every one of us has a role to play in this fight. So join me, we’ve got a democracy to protect.

Sarbanes, who has served nine terms, is one of about two dozen Democrats who are not seeking reelection in the House. Fourteen Republicans have said they are not seeking another term.

More than 1,230 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the riot, ranging from misdemeanor offenses like trespassing to felonies like assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy. About 730 people have pleaded guilty to charges, while about 170 have been convicted of at least one charge at a trial decided by a judge or a jury, according to an Associated Press database.

Testifying before the Jan. 6 committee in 2021, Dunn recounted to lawmakers how rioters pouring into the Speaker’s Lobby by the Rotunda, some wearing “MAGA” hats and shirts that said “Trump 2020,” refused to leave, shouting things like, “No, no, man, this is our house,” “President Trump invited us here,” “We’re here to stop the steal,” “Joe Biden is not the president,” and, “Nobody voted for Joe Biden!”

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 “I am a law enforcement officer, and I keep politics out of my job.  But in this circumstance, I responded, ‘Well, I voted for Joe Biden. Does my vote not count? Am I nobody?'” Dunn testified. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart got weepy during a segment featuring a former member of the Capitol Hill Police Department who served during the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Capehart was interviewing former officer Michael Fanone about this book, “Hold the Line,” that details Fanone’s experience on the day of the riot.

“Michael Fanone, I’m going to try to get through this – um, thank you for what you did three years ago today,” Capeheart told Fanone through tears. “Please, tell me your thoughts on this third anniversary.”

“We are still in the midst of the same fight that began on January 6th, 2021, and we have a lot at stake in this country,” Fanone responded. “I think it deserves every American’s attention.”

JUDGE DISMISSES THREE CIVIL COUNTS AGAINST TRUMP, OTHERS OVER DEATH OF JAN. 6 OFFICER BRIAN SICKNICK

Observers on social media mocked Capehart’s apparently over-dramatic performance.

The segment came just one day after the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that defendants illicitly present in the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot can be convicted even if they were passively observing the events inside.

PROUD BOY WHO FLED PROSECUTION, FAKED DRUG OVERDOSE AFTER J6 RIOT GETS 10 YEARS

The ruling stated that trespassers did not need to be acting “disorderly” or “disruptive” to be found guilty of disorderly conduct, because such definitions “are nebulous, but time has given them concrete contours in two ways important here.”

“First, it is well-established that whether conduct qualifies as disorderly depends on the surrounding circumstances,” the court wrote. “Courts consistently observe that ‘whether a given act provokes a breach of the peace depends upon the accompanying circumstances,’ making it ‘essential that the setting be considered.’”

“Second, it is equally clear from caselaw that even passive, quiet and nonviolent conduct can be disorderly,” the ruling continued.

FBI CONTINUES TO SEARCH FOR JAN 6 PIPE BOMB SUSPECT 3 YEARS AFTER CAPITOL RIOT, OFFERS $500K REWARD

The court compared trespassers present in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to hikers and audience members in an extended metaphor about singing.

“A lone hiker on a mountaintop can sing at the top of his lungs without disturbing a soul; a patron in a library cannot,” the court wrote. “It is entirely appropriate to clap and cheer when a keynote speaker steps to the podium but to do so once the room has fallen quiet and he has begun to speak would ordinarily be disruptive.”

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The FBI continues to investigate and prosecute suspects placed inside the Capitol by security and social media footage.

Fox News’ Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley raised a few eyebrows this weekend from conservatives, after the former South Carolina governor made a comment about changing “personalities” while discussing the upcoming Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. 

“The structure of it is really amazing,” Haley told an interviewer on a local Iowa PBS station last week of the GOP primary process. “Iowa starts it. You change personalities, you go into New Hampshire.”

The presidential candidate was discussing whether she would support changing the order in which states vote in the Republican primary as Democrats did for their presidential primary process. She often remarks on how each state has its own personality. 

At a recent event in Iowa, Haley called Iowans “patriotic,” “hardworking” and “very careful” while saying New Hampshire voters wear their “feelings on their sleeves,” and South Carolinians can “kick you with a smile.” 

NIKKI HALEY IS THE ONLY CANDIDATE WHO HAS SHOWN ANY PRIMARY MOMENTUM: MARK PENN

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has seen poll numbers tighten with Haley as her numbers rise, hit the 51-year-old on the remark while answering questions following an event in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday. 

DeSantis said it’s “just not going well” for Haley as she faces more scrutiny in the media. “I think she’s not showing an ability to be able to withstand that and to be able to answer the type of questions that you need. I mean you obviously saw she’s dealing with history, having trouble there, dissing Iowa with the things she said there … and now this saying that you change personalities once you leave Iowa and go to New Hampshire.”

Texas Rep. Chip Roy, who supports DeSantis, wrote in X, formerly Twitter, Saturday, “So – @NikkiHaley (allies) dump another $1.8 million against @RonDeSantis … so she can ‘changepersonalities’ to go to NH to ‘correct’ Iowans… & audition to be Trump’s VP ($0 against Trump)… to advance forever wars, open borders, & corporate interests. Got it. #DeSantis2024.”

Haley’s campaign hit back against the attacks, with spokeswoman AnneMarie Graham-Barnes telling Fox News Digital in a statement: “Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump are getting more and more desperate by the hour Nikki’s momentum is real and her vision is resonating, so they’re grasping at straws. Voters see right through it.” 

HALEY RESPONDS TO TRUMP, DESANTIS’ SWIPES: IT’S ‘SWEET’ THEY’RE SPENDING SO MUCH MONEY AGAINST ME

Iowa’s polls show former President Trump, who has also increased his attacks on Haley, including TV attack ads, with a double-digit lead over the other candidates (about 50%, according to a Real Clear Politics average), but Haley has closed the gap with DeSantis and the two are vying for second place with 15.7% and 18.4% respectively, with Vivek Ramaswamy in a distant fourth with 6%. 

“President Trump has long said he’d train his sights on whomever is number two in the race,” Jason Miller, a Trump adviser, told Politico recently. “Rob DeSanctimonious is approaching single digits everywhere and his campaign is on life support, which means it’s Nikki Haley’s turn in the barrel.”

Haley has struggled with other gaffes recently, most notably her answer in a New Hampshire town hall last month that failed to make any mention of slavery as the cause of the Civil War. She walked back the comments hours later, saying “of course” the war was about slavery, but her opponents continue to hound her about it. 

She also faced heat for telling New Hampshire voters recently, “You know Iowa starts it. You know that you correct it … you know that my sweet state of South Carolina brings it home,” which she later described as a joke. 

Haley noted the increased attacks she’s received from Trump and her other opponents during a town hall in Iowa Saturday, joking, “All these fellas are showing me way too much attention.” 

She also derided Trump for a recent attack ad against her, which claimed she and President Biden both opposed Trump border security measures such as a wall.

“Isn’t that sweet of him, spending so much time and money against me?” she quipped to Fox News. She told Iowa voters Saturday that in reality she had said the wall was a start but more needed to be done to secure the border. 

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“They’re taking little pieces and putting it together to make it look like what they want you to see,” Haley said of the other candidates’ attacks. “But you know what it all means if they’re lying, it’s because they know they’re losing. It’s that simple. And if they’re going to lie about me, I’m going to tell you the truth about them.” 

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy asserted that he and former President Donald Trump are the only two candidates with an American First agenda.

At a town hall in Marengo, Iowa on Saturday, the 38-year-old entrepreneur said that he and Trump are the only two “America First” candidates on the Republican ballot.

“I think there’s two America first candidates in this race,” Ramaswamy said. “That’s Donald Trump and me.” 

BILLIONAIRE JEFFREY EPSTEIN ASSOCIATE GAVE LARGE DONATIONS TO VIVEK RAMASWAMY, SEVERAL DEMS

The moment came after Ramaswamy told a crowd of supporters that it was time to speak “candidly,” asking the attendees to raise their hands if they were planning on casting their ballot for Ramaswamy or for Trump.

“How many of you are leaning towards supporting me right now?,” Ramaswamy asked. “A good number of you.”

Next, Ramaswamy asked audience members which of them were planning on voting for Trump in the Iowa presidential caucuses on Jan. 15.

“How many of you are considering Donald Trump for the caucus?,” Ramaswamy asked. “Okay. Well, thank you. I understand that because I think there are two ‘American First’ candidates in this race.”

RAMASWAMY BLASTS WAPO REPORTER WITH VIRAL RESPONSE TO QUESTION ON CONDEMNING ‘WHITE SUPREMACY’: ‘SHAME ON YOU’

Ramaswamy, who has campaigned on an “America First 2.0” agenda, has aligned himself with Trump’s America First policy, which centers on reducing U.S. trade deficits and rebalancing the burden of America’s responsibilities to international trade organizations.

In just a week, the 2024 Iowa Caucuses will commence, where the first votes for the next potential president will be cast. 

Being the first state to cast votes for presidential nominees, Iowa’s caucuses set the stage for the entire primary season. Winning or performing strongly in Iowa can generate crucial momentum for candidates, influencing voter perceptions of their viability.

Ramaswamy received the endorsement of former Republican Iowa Rep. Steve King in a post on X last week. 

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Salem, New Hampshire, GOP Chairman Steve Goddu also endorsed Ramaswamy last year, along with former New Hampshire GOP Senate candidate Kevin Smith.

Fox News’ Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.

More than two dozen states have filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court, urging the nation’s highest court to keep former President Trump on the Colorado Republican presidential ballot and warning that failing to do so could throw the 2024 presidential election “into chaos.”

The attorneys general of Indiana, West Virginia and 25 other states, warn the court that the move by the Colorado Supreme Court to declare Trump an “insurrectionist” under the Fourteenth Amendment “has vast consequences that reach far beyond Colorado.”

The nation’s highest court will hear arguments on February 8 and set a January 18 deadline for similar briefs. The justices issued an administrative stay that orders the Colorado Secretary of State to put the former president’s name on the GOP primary ballot, at least until the case is decided.

SUPREME COURT TO DECIDE IF TRUMP BANNED FROM COLORADO BALLOT IN HISTORIC CASE 

The state court ruled that Trump had engaged in an insurrection for his role in January 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol. The Fourteenth Amendment, adopted in 1868 after the Civil War, bars people who “engaged in insurrection” from holding public office.

The states argue that state-imposed restrictions have a national consequence in this instance and the ruling “threatens to throw the 2024 election into chaos.”

“Voters who may wish to cast their ballots for former President Trump cannot know whether he ultimately will be excluded from the ballot in their State or others. They may wonder whether a little non-mutual offensive collateral estoppel is all it takes for former President Trump to be excluded from ballots across the Nation,” they say.

They also argue that the court’s decision on what constitutes an insurrection is “standardless and vague” and denied the former president an opportunity for due process, including calling witnesses and the discovery process.

“The Colorado Supreme Court has cast itself into a ‘political thicket,’ . . . and it is now up to this Court to pull it out,” they say.

The states warn that if the Colorado decision is allowed to stand, the confidence in the integrity of the electoral process will be harmed.

TRUMP ASKS SUPREME COURT TO KEEP NAME ON COLORADO BALLOT

“Many Americans will become convinced that a few partisan actors have contrived to take a political decision out of ordinary voters’ hands,” they warn.

The brief also argues for immediate action as the court “should not let the uncertainy persist” and warns that additional confusion could build if more states remove Trump from the ballot as the primaries and caucuses near.

“Any damage may already have been done by the time another case raising similar issues makes its way back to this Court. And the longer litigation over a national candidate’s eligibility persists, the more uncertainty and confusion will spread. Voters need an answer in time to judiciously weigh the merits of competing candidates before casting their ballots, not after voting has begun,” the states say.

BIDEN MARKS THREE YEARS SINCE JAN. 6 BLASTING TRUMP, SAYING HE IS ‘TRYING TO STEAL HISTORY’

The brief also argues that, if allowed to stand, other potential disqualifications could arise in the future, asking whether a president could be stopped from running for re-election due to a wartime mistake construed as giving “aid or comfort” to enemies.

“The Court should act now to stop all these ‘strange, far-reaching, and injurious results’ from spinning out of control,” the states say.

Finally, the brief argues that the decision for who is qualified to serve as president is up to the voters, not to the courts.

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“If the voters find former President Trump qualified, and Congress concurs, then the Constitution does not contemplate a time for the judiciary to second-guess that call. Rather, the Constitution gives Congress the sole and final authority to determine whether the President can continue to serve, as many courts have said.”

Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Bill Mears and Shannon Bream contributed to this report.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft is threatening to remove President Biden from the election ballot as other states make efforts to disqualify former President Trump from securing a second term over his actions during the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. 

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide whether Trump can appear on Republican primary ballots in Colorado after the state Supreme Court ruled he couldn’t, citing the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause. 

The high court sided with a lower court that ruled Trump incited his supporters as Congress was certifying Biden’s 2020 election victory. The Colorado Supreme Court decision was the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was used to bar a presidential contender from the ballot. 

DEMOCRATIC ANALYSTS SOUND ALARM ON MORE ‘GRIM’ BIDEN POLLING SHOWING DIMINISHING SUPPORT IN KEY VOTER GROUPS

Maine’s secretary of state decided Trump should be removed from the ballot for the same reason. Trump is appealing that decision. 

On Friday, Ashcroft, a Republican, said the efforts in Colorado and Maine were “disgraceful” and “undermines our republic.”

“While I expect the Supreme Court to overturn this, if not, Secretaries of State will step in & ensure the new legal standard for @realDonaldTrump applies equally to @JoeBiden !,” Ashcroft wrote on X. 

“I’m not in favor of going down this path. But if we will go down this path, it’s inevitable, if the Supreme Court does not stop this,” Ashcroft told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “The rules will be applied equally. I just hope they will not be the rules of Colorado and Maine.”

Republicans have heavily criticized Democrats for attempting to remove Trump from 2024 presidential election ballots, saying it undermines the will of voters. 

Last month, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick suggested taking Biden off the ballot because of his handling of the southern border.

“Seeing what happened in Colorado tonight … makes me think — except we believe in democracy in Texas — maybe we should take Joe Biden off the ballot in Texas for allowing 8 million people to cross the border since he’s been president, disrupting our state far more than anything anyone else has done in recent history,” Patrick said in an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle.”

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In a letter submitted to the high court, more than a dozen states signaled their support for Trump, including Missouri. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Ashcroft’s office. A White House spokesperson responded with “No” when asked for comment. 

GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he’s looking at ways to keep President Biden off the ballot due to the “invasion of 8 million” at the southern border — though he said he also believes efforts to bar former President Trump from the ballot are wrong.

“I do think the US Supreme Court is going to have to take the case,” DeSantis told reporters following a campaign event in Iowa Friday. “I do think they’re going to have to rein this in, because I just think if you look at it, it just becomes too different.”

But DeSantis said in the meantime that Florida is looking at whether it could block Biden from the ballot for policies he says have led to an “invasion” of immigrants into the U.S. over the southern border.

“You could make a case — we’re actually I’m actually looking at this in Florida now. Could we make a credible case that Biden, because of the invasion of eight million?” DeSantis said.

TRUMP BACKED BY 27 STATES IN SUPREME COURT FIGHT, WHO WARN OF 2024 ‘CHAOS’ IF HE’S REMOVED FROM BALLOT

DeSantis has frequently cited the eight million figure, referring to the number of immigrants who have allegedly entered the country illegally under Biden’s administration.

Despite disagreeing with the legality of barring candidates from primary ballots, DeSantis said it is important to fight by the same set of rules Democrats are using.

FOX NEWS TOWN HALL WITH GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS

“I think if this is going to happen for them . . . I don’t believe in fighting with one hand tied behind your back. Whatever the rules are applied to us, we’re going to fight back and play the rules the other way,” DeSantis said.

“You know, we’ve got a better way forward. We’re not going to have to worry about those issues. And then when I become president, I’m going to be able to address all the lawfare and all the weaponization, and we’ll be able to end this stuff once and for all,” he added.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case on whether Trump can be kept off of state primary ballots. A Colorado high court ruled in favor of a Republican effort to bar the former president from appearing on primary ballots.

FOX NEWS TOWN HALL WITH FMR. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump had engaged in an insurrection for his role in the January 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol. The Fourteenth Amendment, adopted in 1868 after the Civil War, bars people who have “engaged in insurrection” from holding public office.

Other states have also moved or is considering efforts to block Trump from the ballot. The Maine Secretary of State determined that Trump was ineligible to appear on the primary ballot, and the Illinois State Board of Elections (SBE) will hold a vote this month to decide whether to remove the former president’s name.

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

President Biden garnered the attention of some social media users on Friday after he delivered a speech in Pennsylvania and appeared “confused” landing in Delaware later that evening.

Shortly after Biden’s trip to Blue Bell, Pennsylvania — where he delivered a campaign speech marking three years since the January 6 Capitol riot — the 81-year-old president faced a flurry of criticism for his remarks and behavior both after the speech and upon his arrival in Delaware, where he is spending the weekend.

Biden spent a great deal of time attacking former President Donald Trump, who holds a massive lead over the GOP presidential primary field, and his “mob” of supporters during the Friday-evening speech near Valley Forge.

The president accused Trump of “trying to steal history the same way he tried to steal the election,” while saying that the results of the 2020 election proved that he was a “loser.”

BIDEN DOES NOT HAVE ‘COGNITIVE ABILITY’ TO SERVE ANOTHER TERM, SAYS FORMER WH DOCTOR

After delivering the address, first lady Jill Biden quickly approached the podium and hugged the president before taking him by the hand and leading him off the stage. The couple appeared to whisper something to one another, but what said wasn’t discernible based on the angles of the main camera.

After embracing his wife, Biden turned back to the mic and spoke over the loudspeakers that had already begun playing exit music.

“I understand power. Thank you all so very much,” he said before slowly leaving the stage.

Highlighting the instance in a post to social media, one user noted that Jill Biden helped the president “off the stage following his remarks lest he get confused, and/or lost, or falls.”

Following his speech, Biden flew on Marine One to Delaware to spend the weekend with his family. Upon landing and departing from the helicopter, several users noticed the president’s peculiar behavior.

“After two weeks of vacation and a 32-minute speech, Biden is back in Delaware for a weekend respite. He was VERY confused upon landing,” RNC Research, an account managed by the Republican National Committee, remarked on X.

Sharing the same clip, conservative commentator Benny Johnson wrote in a post to X, “Biden is lost again.”

Biden, who turned 78 shortly before taking office in January 2021, has faced repeated questions over his fitness for office and mental acuity.

A recent NBC poll indicated that 59% of registered voters have “major concerns” about his physical and mental health as he eyes a second term, with an additional 27% having either “moderate” or “minor” concerns.

NEW POLL REVEALS HUGE GAP IN BIDEN’S AGE VS. TRUMP’S IN HYPOTHETICAL 2024 MATCHUP

Brennan Gorman, an Independent voter, joined “FOX & Friends Weekend” in November and offered his perspective on why he finds Biden’s age a problem for not only his campaign, but the entire country.

“I’m absolutely concerned,” he said at the time. “He exhibits many issues when it comes to physical and cognitive abilities, but also it’s difficult for him to connect with the younger generation. Our electorate is getting younger and younger, and we’re electing people who are older and older.”

Seventy-six percent of voters agreed Biden is “too old” to serve a second term, compared to just 48% who said the same about Trump, according to the poll.

Last November, Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, the former White House physician for Presidents Obama and Trump, expressed concern about Biden’s health and mental acuity.

“I’ve been saying for quite some time now, when he was candidate Joe Biden, that I didn’t think that he had the cognitive ability to do the job,” Jackson said on “FOX & Friends.”

Jackson emphasized that Biden has “degenerated” over the last three years.

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“He’s got these people that surround him that are inappropriately encouraging him to continue to run, because it builds up who they are and what they do. But our border, our wars overseas, our economy, you know, it’s just a disaster right now. And he just can’t do the job. And it’s just on display every day that he’s not capable of doing this job anymore,” Jackson warned.

House Speaker Mike Johnson formally invited President Biden to deliver a State of the Union address before Congress in March, amid “a moment of great challenge for our country.”

The constitutionally mandated update to Congress would occur on March 7, according to Johnson’s invitation. 

“In this moment of great challenge for our country, it is my solemn duty to extend this invitation for you to address a Joint Session of Congress on Thursday, March 7, 2024, so that you may fulfill your obligation under the U.S. Constitution to report on the state of our union,” Johnson wrote in the letter sent Saturday.

HOUSE GOP MAJORITY TO SHRINK AGAIN IN TIME FOR POTENTIAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN

In a post on X, Biden accepted the invitation.

“Looking forward to it, Mr. Speaker,” the post on Biden’s official X account said.

This will be Biden’s first State of the Union address with Johnson as speaker of the House, and his second since Republicans won the House majority in 2022. 

In 2023, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy invited Biden to give the address to a joint session of Congress on February 7, 2023. 

“The American people sent us to Washington to deliver a new direction for the country, to find common ground, and to debate their priorities,” McCarthy wrote at the time. After being ousted as speaker of the House in October, McCarthy left Congress in December.

Johnson has recently floated the idea of meeting personally with the president to discuss the southern border, which Republicans and a growing number Democrats view as a crisis.

Fox News Digital reported Friday that Johnson suggested meeting with Biden during a private call with House lawmakers on Thursday evening.

FREEDOM CAUCUS WARNS GOP LEADERS AGAINST SPENDING ‘AGREEMENT’ WITH DEMS AS SHUTDOWN DEADLINE LOOMS

A group of senators are still negotiating a potential immigration and border security package that would address the situation, after House Republicans said they would not consider additional aid to Ukraine or Israel unless the southern border crisis were addressed.

The March 7 State of the Union address would come after Congress faces two major deadlines to fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year. Under a continuing resolution (CR) passed late last year, the House and Senate must reach an agreement to fund certain agencies by January 19 and others by February 2. 

During his 2023 State of the Union address, Biden faced boos and criticism for claiming that Republicans wanted to hold the economy “hostage” and sunset Social Security and Medicare.

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Biden also touted the economic progress under his administration — after inflation hit record highs in 2022 — and highlighted the unemployment rate at a “50-year low,” as well as job creation under his presidency following the pandemic-era job losses.

FOX NEWS TOWN HALL WITH FMR. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP

The Department of Justice has spent more than three times the amount investigating alleged wrongdoings by former President Donald Trump than it has to probe President Biden’s classified documents case.

The two investigations conducted by Special Counsel Jack Smith into Trump have cost taxpayers upwards of $23 million, while the DOJ’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents has cost taxpayers roughly $6.4 million – a combined total of nearly $30 million.

The figures were revealed Friday in expenditure reports by the DOJ and reflect spending totals by both special counsels from the beginning of April 2023 through the end of September 2023. The totals also included costs sustained by other DOJ agencies related to the investigations.

The expenditure report for Smith’s investigations into Trump revealed that the DOJ had spent approximately $7.3 million on things like compensation and benefits for certain personnel, travel, supplies, rent and additional services.

As for other DOJ agencies that incurred expenses while assisting Smith’s investigations into the former president, the total came out to around $7.2 million. That total stemmed from the use of additional investigative support analysts from other agencies and a security detail for the special counsel “when warranted,” according to the report.

FOX NEWS TOWN HALL WITH FMR. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP

Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to investigate Trump’s mishandling of classified documents and his alleged efforts to interfere with the 2020 election.

The initial expenditure report from the special counsel – which covered mid-November 2022 through the end of March 2023 – revealed that Smith and other agencies within the DOJ had used $9 million in taxpayer dollars to investigate Trump. That total, combined with the total shown in the Friday report, puts the total cost the DOJ has spent investigating the former president at more than $23 million.

Trump pleaded not guilty in federal court to all four federal charges stemming from Smith’s investigation into 2020 election interference and the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

Smith also indicted Trump on charges relating to the mishandling of classified documents. Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony charges out of that probe.

In contrast to the DOJ’s extreme cost of the Trump investigations, another DOJ report released Friday showed that Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s classified documents case cost taxpayers $2.8 million from the beginning of April 2023 to the end of September 2023.

Other DOJ agencies that supported the Biden probe during the same time period incurred costs of $2.4 million – bringing the total spent on the Biden investigation from April 2023 to September 2023 to $5.2 million.

The initial report from Hur’s investigation showed that the Department of Justice spent roughly $1.2 million between mid-January 2023 and the end of March 2023. That total, combined with totals revealed Friday, brings the DOJ’s total cost for the Biden probe overall to $6.4 million.

FOX NEWS TOWN HALL WITH FMR. GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY

Hur, a former U.S. attorney, was appointed last January by Garland to lead the investigation into President Biden’s handling of classified documents dating back to the Obama administration. Last fall, Biden took part in a voluntary interview with Hur about the matter.

FOX NEWS TOWN HALL WITH GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS

The probe stems from a batch of records from President Biden’s time as vice president, including a “small number of documents with classified markings,” that were discovered at the Penn Biden Center by the president’s personal attorneys on November 2, 2022.

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The documents were found in a locked closet while preparing to vacate office space at the center, which the president used from mid-2017 until he began the 2020 campaign.

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump is back in Iowa this weekend, picking up his pace on the campaign trail with just over a week to go until the state’s Jan. 15 caucuses kick off the Republican presidential nominating calendar.

His message to his supporters: “We don’t want to sit back and rely on the polls.”

The former president’s the frontrunner for the GOP nomination as he makes his third straight White House run.

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

FIRST ON FOX: INFLUENTIAL CONSERVATIVE GROUP LAUNCHES MASSIVE AD BLITZ ON BEHALF OF HALEY

In the latest polls in Iowa, he stands at or above 50% support, miles ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who are battling for a distant second place.

“We’re leading by 30 to 40 points,” Trump has told supporters.

But Trump, who skipped out on the first four GOP presidential primary debates and who until recently kept a light schedule on the campaign trail in Iowa and the early voting states, isn’t sitting back on his large lead.

“The poll numbers are scary because we’re leading by so much,” Trump told supporters at a rally in Waterloo, Iowa, just before Christmas.

“We can put this to bed after Iowa. We’ve got to be sure that we put this thing away. … You gotta show up. Even if you think we’re going to win by a lot. You gotta show up.”

The Trump campaign shifted into higher gear a few weeks ago, training close to 2,000 caucus captains in precincts across the state. 

“Their sole job is to run each individual caucus that takes place and making sure that the list of the targeted voters supporting President Trump show up,” Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita told Fox News last month.

GOP NOMINATION RACE: WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES FOR DONALD TRUMP

The Trump campaign’s ground game operation in Iowa is leagues ahead of his 2016 effort, when he narrowly lost the caucuses to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. 

“Ted Cruz won in 2016 because his ground game was fantastic,” Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann, who remains neutral in the Republican nomination race, told Fox News.

And pointing to the 2024 Trump campaign, Kaufmann emphasized “their ground game has increased immensely.”

Trump and his campaign team are aiming for an overwhelming victory in Iowa as part of their plan to wrap up the nomination race as quickly as possible and pivot to a general election rematch with President Biden.

Their major concern is complacency.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, a top Trump surrogate, told Fox News that she is a “caucus captain myself in Guthrie County. I will be there at the caucus helping rally votes for President Trump on caucus night. We have to stay focused, and our people have to show up. The support is strong, it’s there, but we have to show up.”

Another concern for Trump and his campaign is making sure they match or beat expectations, which may be inflated due to his commanding lead in the polls in Iowa and in national surveys.

Trump, aware of the expectations he faces, took aim at a familiar target — the media.

“If we win in a massive number, but if it’s a little bit less than that, they’ll say, ‘Oh, he didn’t beat expectations,'” Trump told his supporters.

Longtime Republican strategist David Kochel told Fox News last month Trump is “driving his own expectations up. … It’s all expectations, and Trump’s are sky-high.”

“If he’s under 50%, it’s a problem for him given his poll average now is well over 50,” argued Kochel, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns nationally and in Iowa.

WAR OF WORDS BETWEEN HALEY AND DESANTIS REACHES FEVER PITCH

Seasoned Iowa-based Republican strategist Jimmy Centers said if Trump “wins by more than 20 points, and he’s over 50%, my goodness, this thing is over before it even begun.”

“But if it’s under 15 points, then I think we have a race if the field consolidates,” added Centers, a veteran of multiple presidential campaigns and gubernatorial and congressional campaigns. He served as communications director for former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and current Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Trump isn’t the only candidate battling expectations.

DeSantis, who’s staked his shot at the nomination on a strong showing in Iowa, has predicted a victory in the Hawkeye State.

“We’re going to win here in Iowa,” he told Fox News Digital on the campaign trail in the eastern part of the state the week before Christmas.

And he predicted the caucuses “will be very clarifying in terms of who is a real deal and who’s not. So, we look forward to that.”

Asked if he’ll move on to New Hampshire, which votes second in the GOP calendar, regardless of his finish in Iowa, DeSantis quickly said, “Of course. Yeah, absolutely. Of course.”

Centers told Fox News that “to march on to New Hampshire and make a strong case, Gov. DeSantis needs to finish in second place.”

Haley, who has enjoyed plenty of momentum in recent weeks, catching up to DeSantis in Iowa and in national polls and narrowing the gap with Trump in New Hampshire, has been careful to temper expectations.

Asked where she needs to finish in Iowa and New Hampshire, Haley reiterated in a Fox News Digital interview this week that “I need to be strong in Iowa, strong in New Hampshire, strong in South Carolina. That’s what I intend to do.”

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But Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, Haley’s top surrogate, the next day appeared to raise expectations.

“We know Trump is going to win the caucus in Iowa,” Sununu said at a Haley campaign event in Londonderry, New Hampshire. “But, again, Nikki coming in second place when nobody thought it could happen, that’s going to happen and give her even more momentum.”

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

A lawyer who previously represented the head of Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company that once employed Hunter Biden, registered retroactively as a foreign agent for the work he did for the natural gas company seven years ago.

The registration from John Buretta came in documents filed Thursday with the U.S. Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which requires lawfirms and lobbyists to disclose their work representing the interests of foreign clients.

The disclosure from Buretta for the 2016 work he did for Mykola Zlochevsky — who co-founded Burisma Holdings in 2002 — came more than seven years after the fact, raising questions and concerns about why Hunter Biden, who also performed work on behalf of Burisma and Zlochevsky at the time, did not register as a foreign agent under FARA.

Buretta previously worked as a defense lawyer for Zlochevsky amid corruption investigations into the Burisma chief by the Ukrainian government and, according to FARA documents, U.S. authorities.

BIDENS ALLEGEDLY ‘COERCED’ BURISMA CEO TO PAY THEM MILLIONS TO HELP GET UKRAINE PROSECUTOR FIRED: FBI FORM

In the forms filed this week, Buretta’s law firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, noted, “In January 2016, Mr. Buretta was retained to represent Mykola Zlochevsky in connection with possible investigations by governmental authorities in the United States. The representation thereafter broadened to include Burisma Holdings Limited, as well as governmental investigations in Ukraine, and continued until April 2017. The representation included both registrable and non-registrable activities. This registration and related materials cover all interactions with U.S. government officials in the course of the representation.”

As part of his representation of Zlochevsky, the law firm noted in the form that Buretta met with three Obama administration officials in March 2016 and sent another U.S. government official a letter in September 2016.

“In these interactions, Mr. Buretta identified his clients and presented facts relevant to potential U.S. and Ukrainian investigations, including information from a UK proceeding involving his clients,” the law firm noted.

Buretta’s law firm did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, but in a statement to the Washington Examiner explained that the filing came after a discussion with the DOJ.

“After discussions with the Department of Justice regarding FARA’s scope, Cravath has filed a retroactive registration covering legal services provided to two former clients in March and September 2016, and a supplemental statement terminating the registration as of September 2016,” a Cravath, Swaine & Moore spokesperson told the outlet.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS CONSIDER HOLDING HUNTER BIDEN IN CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS

In recent years, the DOJ has strengthened its enforcement of FARA violations. During former President Donald Trump’s administration, the DOJ prosecuted former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for failing to register as a foreign agent for work he performed in Ukraine.

Unlike Buretta, however, Manafort, who was eventually sentenced to prison, was not allowed to retroactively file a FARA disclosure to avoid charges being levied against him.

Included in the Thursday FARA filing was a breakdown of how much money Cravath received from Burisma Holdings. From January 2016 to August 2017, the firm was paid nearly $350,000, according to the documents.

The filing from Buretta and his attorneys comes as House Republicans continue to investigate Hunter Biden, who has been accused of violating FARA, wire fraud, money laundering, and other alleged crimes.

Then-Vice President Biden and Hunter Biden allegedly “coerced” Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky to pay them millions of dollars in exchange for their help in getting the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating the company fired, according to allegations contained in an unclassified FBI document released last July by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

Grassley said he released the document, which describes an alleged criminal bribery scheme involving Joe Biden and a Ukrainian business executive, so that the American people can “read this document for themselves without the filter of politicians or bureaucrats.”

The document in question was an FBI-generated FD-1023 form — a confidential human source (CHS) reporting document — that reflects the FBI’s interview with a “highly credible” confidential source who detailed multiple meetings and conversations he or she had with a top executive of Burisma Holdings over the course of several years starting in 2015. Hunter Biden, at the time, sat on the board of Burisma.

Biden has acknowledged that when he was vice president, he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire prosecutor Viktor Shokin. At the time, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings, and at the time, Hunter had a highly lucrative role on the board, receiving thousands of dollars per month. The then-vice president threatened to withhold $1 billion of critical U.S. aid if Shokin were not fired.

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Biden allies maintain the then-vice president pushed for Shokin’s firing due to concerns the Ukrainian prosecutor went easy on corruption, and say that his firing, at the time, was the policy position of the U.S. and international community.

The House Oversight Committee next week will hold a meeting to consider a resolution to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress after violating his congressional subpoenas.

The Oversight Committee and House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Hunter Biden for a closed-door deposition last month as part of the House Republican-led impeachment inquiry against President Biden. He defied the subpoena and held a press conference outside the Capitol complex instead.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Illegal immigrants streamed through a smuggler-made gap in the border wall in Lukeville, Arizona, on Thursday evening, highlighting the continued challenges faced by Border Patrol agents, even in areas where there has been wall construction.

Fox News shot the video in Lukeville, Arizona, which showed illegal immigrants streaming through the breach, which had been cut by the cartels. People who are believed to be smugglers appear in the gap, clapping at the illegal immigrants to hurry up before they return to Mexico.

In another part of the video, smugglers can be seen recording the migrants with their phones, likely recording proof that their human cargo has been delivered into the U.S.

JOHNSON CALLS MIGRANT CRISIS ‘TRULY UNCONSCIONABLE’ DURING VISIT TO BESIEGED SOUTHERN BORDER

The video shows the coordination of smugglers to get illegal immigrants into the U.S., at which point they will either flee deeper into the U.S. or turn themselves in to Border Patrol, after which they are often released into the care of non-governmental organizations.

There were over 300,000 migrant encounters alone in December, including those who crossed illegally and those who appeared at ports of entry, in addition to the more than 2.4 million encounters in FY 23. 

Meanwhile, Fox has reported that during a period of December there were over 5,000 migrants releases each day. The number of illegal immigrants on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s non-detained docket soared from 3.7 million in FY 2021 to nearly 4.8 million in FY 2022 to nearly 6.2 million in FY 2023. The non-detained docket includes illegal immigrants who have final orders of removal or are going through removal proceedings but are not detained in ICE custody.

The crisis has put increasing political pressure on the Biden administration. Republicans, as well as Democratic mayors who have seen massive migrant surges into their cities, have called on the administration to do more to solve the crisis.

Republicans have called on the Biden administration to limit the release of migrants into the U.S. interior, including by the use of humanitarian parole. Republicans in the House have also pushed legislation that would restore Trump-era programs and also restrict asylum claims.

BIDEN ADMIN EYES MORE DEPORTATION FLIGHTS TO VENEZUELA AS MIGRANT NUMBERS SHATTER RECORDS

The Biden administration has said it is facing a Hemisphere-wide crisis and is pursuing a policy of targeting smugglers, expanding “lawful pathways” and increasing consequences for illegal entry, arguing that it has removed over 460,000 people since May.

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But it says it is working within a broken system and needs funding and immigration reform from Congress. It has requested an additional $14 billion, but that request is being held up as Republicans demand more limits on asylum — something that many Democrats have rejected.

Seperately, the Biden administration announced a lawsuit this week against the state of Texas after Governor Greg Abbott signed legislation that would allow for state and local police to arrest illegal immigrants.

Fox News’ Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

A former top aide to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., funneled six figures in donor funds from his political action committee into his own pockets for reported consulting work, all while spending minimal amounts on the PAC’s actual mission.

Corbin Trent, who previously acted as a top aide to Ocasio-Cortez and helped propel her into office, formed the No Excuses PAC after his departure as her communications director in 2019 and exiting her campaign in 2020. 

Trent launched No Excuses in 2021 with the goal of nuking the Senate filibuster by targeting senators Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kirsten Sinema, I-Ariz. But a recent report shows that No Excuses barely spent money on its stated endeavors.

AOC’S PAC FUNNELED THOUSANDS TO ORG FINANCING DISRUPTIVE CLIMATE PROTEST GROUPS

Instead, Trent paid himself nearly $140,000 for reported communication and management consulting between February 2021 and September 2023, which is shown in Federal Election Commission filings. 

During this time, Trent’s group spent just $14,831 on radio ad buys targeting Manchin and Sinema, meaning his PAC had paid him ten times more for reported consulting services than it spent on its stated goals, the publication noted.

Trent, who did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment, told the Daily Beast he earned the money from television appearances, which he said furthered the PAC’s mission. However, the publication noted that he had made consistent payments to himself even when he did not appear on television. 

Before acting as an adviser to Ocasio-Cortez and later forming No Excuses, Trent co-founded Justice Democrats, which was instrumental in pushing her into power. 

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

FORMER AOC AIDE: ‘OLD AS S–T, INEFFECTIVE’ BIDEN COULD LEAD DEMS TOWARD 1992-STYLE ELECTION TURMOIL

No Excuses has pivoted away from the filibuster to what appears to be persuading President Biden not to run for a second term and is asking for donations to do so.

“President Biden, you’ve accomplished more in three years than most two-term presidents,” No Excuses says in the ad it posted to X. “But battleground state voters say they’ll vote for Trump if you’re the Democratic nominee.

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“If you attempt to cling to power, your legacy will be Donald Trump’s final destruction of our democracy,” the ad continues. “If you step aside, however, you’ll be remembered as one of the greatest presidents in history. Thank you, Joe. But now it’s time to go.”

No Excuses reported just over $1,500 in the bank in its most recent filings and would not tell the Daily Beast how much it has raised to this day.